Unrelenting Fury
by Wolf of the Aurora
Summary: The largest tankery tournament is underway as Saunders and Pravda duke it out against Kuromorimine and Ooarai. Everything was going well until the girls found out that someone had tampered with their shells. Fury inspired events with the touch of the Girls und Panzer universe. [Chapter 5 is now split into two chapters]
1. Chapter 1

Unrelenting Fury

-1-

A thin fog rolled across the muddy battlefield. The eerie silence was broken by the engine of a gray Panzer II light tank adorned with the insignia of the Kuromorimine Girls High School. Its tracks clicked and suspension squeaked as it made its way through water filled craters and over mounds of mud. It passed a knocked out M4 Sherman, its white flag waving in the light breeze. Further along, there was a burning Panther, then more Shermans... it was entire graveyard of tanks. Shortly after passing a Panzer IV H, it began to pass another M4 with its turret turned 90 degrees to the right. Just as the light tank passed in front of the muzzle, the sound of the M4's 75mm gun rang out and hit the Panzer II directly in the engine. It caught fire and rolled down a slope into a crater. The explosion caused by the Panzer II was fit for a heavy tank and concerned the Sherman's commander enough for her to hop out and go check on the enemy crew.

Inside the Sherman, the rest of the crew was doing assorted things. The loader, Maria, lay on the floor of the turret trying to fix some circuitry. She cursed under her breath when she was zapped by a spark. The gunner, Bailey, just rested her head against the wall with her eyes closed. The driver, Samantha,(or usually just 'Sam'), was doing her best to patch up the assistant driver, Amy. Earlier, Amy had banged her head against the wall of the tank when an overly aggressive Panther decided to ram them in the side. Now she was bleeding badly from a head wound and is barely able to keep consciousness. The commander clambered back into the tank.

"Are those Black Forest girls alright?" Maria asked without taking her eyes off her task at hand.

"Yeah, they're alright. Mighty big explosion for a light tank," the commander, Kay, said. Kay is the captain of the tankery team of Saunders Girls High School. As much as she likes to have fun in the sport, she maintains a level of competitiveness and sportsmanship. But the tournament she is in now, which is stated to be an experimental game, she will have to maintain a level head on the battlefield especially with the opponents she is up against; both of the Nishizumi sisters.

"Kay! Amy needs medical attention now!" Sam said urgently. Kay nodded and tried to raise the emergency team on the radio.

"Emergency team, this is Kay. Do you copy?"

*Static*

"Emergency team, this is Kay. Do you copy, over?" She pounded the console to try to get a signal. There was nothing except static. "Radio's dead. We're on our own for now."

After a few more curses from Maria, she stopped and tapped Sam on the shoulder.

"You're good to go," she said.

Sam toggled the ignition and the engine whined as it started to turn.

"Come on!" Sam said. Finally, the engine roared to life. The sound and vibrations shook Bailey to be partially awake.

"Bailey, gun forward. Sam, take us back to camp." The tank jerked forward and steadily made its way across the battlefield.

_Hang in there Amy. We'll get you home._ Kay silently added to herself.

* * *

One month prior to the tournament, all the schools' student council presidents that have a tankery club on their ship were called to a meeting and were told to bring their tankery captains with them. After a short briefing from the officials, many of the schools declined to take part in the match or just left without saying a word. Those schools kept tankery alive within their campuses but would rather use their funding on education. The only schools that had stayed were Anzio, Kuromorimine, Ooarai, Pravda, Saunders and St. Gloriana.

Anchovy and Darjeeling were genuinely curious to listen to what this new experiment was about, Kay is the tankery captain of a school where money wasn't a problem, Katyusha has too much pride to show her back to her opponents, Maho has a name to uphold, and Miho felt obliged to stay as she won the championship the previous season. Ooarai's student council president, Anzu, sat with her legs up on the table and a snack in hand as she listened to the details of the new tournament.

The tournament is a week long elimination based game. It ends when either all vehicles on one side are destroyed or when the seventh day comes to a close. It may sound simple enough but there was a rule that surprised all of them. If it was possible to retrieve and or fix a knocked out vehicle from or on the playing field, it can be used again at any time in the tournament. The chance of actually re-commissioning vehicles would be a doozy in practice however. Maho and Katyusha possess the heaviest tanks in the league and dragging something like an IS or a Maus back to base camp... they visibly shook their heads lightly and decided to bring their entire arsenal. Anchovy had really light tanks and Kay possessed quantity so replacing tanks for either of them won't be much of a problem. The only two that would have problems would be Miho and Darjeeling as they have a decent number of tanks, but enough to last a week?

Each side has a designated safe zone; a base camp. All combat is restricted to two miles away from the safe zone to prevent any dangers from stray rounds. The use of wiretapping, recon planes (one period correct plane per school i.e. a P-51 for Saunders, a Mosquito for St. Glorianna, etc), and scouts were all legal. Emergency teams would be on standby incase anything happens.

When all was said and done, Anchovy and Darjeeling decided to sit this one out but were told that they could join at any time. Only four schools would be participating; Saunders and Pravda on one side and Ooarai and Kuromorimine on the other.

* * *

Kay's Sherman slowly rolled into the camp. Girls closer to the entrance were weary and dirty as they have just come off the field while rest in the back near the barracks were all refreshed and lively as a good rest did them well. The interior of the barracks was more like a nice hotel rather than actual military bunks and rooms.

Maria hopped out and ran to an official who immediately called the medics. After they came to a halt, four medics rushed over with a stretcher. Sam opened the assistant driver's hatch and helped Amy out and onto the stretcher.

"Sam, the tank's done. Take it over to the bone yard," Kay ordered. Sam nodded and went on her way. After the tank pulled immediately out from in front of her, Kay was facing Saunders' sniper.

"What took you so long?" Naomi asked.

"Traffic was a bitch," Kay joked. They got a small laugh out of it and briefly hugged each other. "So has Alisa gotten anything useful?"

"She might've if our equipment wasn't destroyed."

Kay sighed.

"Luckily I sent scouts out when I did." As if on cue, an M18 Hellcat tank destroyer entered the camp followed by four M22 Locusts of Saunders' "Flying Tigers" group. The Hellcat was made legal for use in tankery by modifying the turret to be a closed turret and to give enough space for the crew inside the turret. The Locusts were dark brown and had dark gold tiger stripes on the side and an anime style cat face on the front armor. That combined with its small size made them darn cute.

"Hey! Where are the rest of the Locusts?" Kay shouted to the Hellcat commander as she passed by.

"That's what I need to talk to you about."

"Alright. Meet me in the briefing room."

"Roger that," said the Hellcat commander.

Kay turned around but was surprised to see a girl she has never seen before in front of her. She was a little bit shorter than Kay and had short brown hair and dark green eyes. She fidgeted and was obviously nervous.

"Um, are you Kay?" she asked.

"Yes. You new here?"

The girl nodded.

"Let me ask you something. Have you ever killed a person before?" Kay asked darkly.

"What...?" The girl shrunk.

"Nah, I'm just kidding!" Kay said cheerfully and threw her arm around her neck. "Welcome to the tankery team! What's your name?"

"Nora."

"Well then Nora, do you have any experience with tanks?"

Nora shook her head.

"Then you can be a bow gunner. Easiest job in a tank. Now if you follow this lady here," Kay pointed at Naomi who was inserting a strip of gum into her mouth. "She'll teach you everything that you'll need to know about the machine gun. Got it? Great! Now if you'll excuse me, I got a briefing to attend to."

Kay left a confused Nora and a stoic Naomi as she ran towards the barracks.

"Is she always like this?" Nora asked the Firefly commander/gunner.

"Like what? Oh, like that? I guess so. I hardly notice it. Maybe because I'm used to it."

Kay was in a room with a map of the arena laid out in front of her. The Hellcat commander was marking the plastic laminate on top of the map as she spoke.

"Between this hedge and the tree line is where the Locusts are pinned down. I don't know how many are still operational or if any of them still are. Tank destroyers have them pinned down. They are here, here, and possibly one here. I don't know. We only saw the muzzle flashes. Low profile. They're probably Flatpanzers. Ooarai's Hetzer may be there as well."

"Flatpanzer" is what Saunders started to call the Jagdpanzer IV/70 as it was essentially a flat Panzer IV.

"Do we have any eyes down there?" Kay asked.

"We had a Chaffee here and here. Both got the hell out of there when they started taking fire."

"Is it okay if I use this road and use both hedges for concealment?"

"You're the team captain. Do what you have to do."

Outside, Kay told Sam to get the M4A3E8 (76)W or "Easy Eight" as the model was nicknamed and ordered Tess (the commander of the M4A2 who was the first to be taken out in the match with Ooarai last season) and Alisa to get their tanks as well. She was wondering who to call next when Naomi and Nora walked up.

"Hey, perfect! Naomi, get the Firefly. We're going to destroy some tank destroyers." Kay said.

"So you're taking out the 76 mil, huh?" Naomi asked, looking at Kay's Sherman. "I guess I have to work for my kills now."

"Oh, what's the matter? Can't handle some competition?" Maria asked mischievously from the top of the Easy Eight.

"Don't forget that I'm the best shot here," Naomi retorted.

Kay was about to climb in when she remembered the empty bow gunner's hatch.

"Hey, Nora. Why don't you come into my tank?"

"You...You serious?" Nora stammered.

"Sure. I'm in need of a bow gunner."

"Thank you, ma'am!" Nora said and bowed.

One by one, the tanks headed out of the gate in order of Kay's Easy Eight, Tess's M4A2, Alisa's M4A1 (76)W, and Naomi's Firefly. All four tanks carried supplies ranging from spare tracks and bogie wheels to sleeping bags and MREs. Each tank also has three logs held in place by rope on both sides of the tanks.

"This is Charlie 1-1, coms check," Kay said.

"Charlie 1-2, copies," Tess replied.

"Charlie 1-3, copies," answered Alisa.

"Charlie 1-4, copies," said Naomi.

"Brilliant. Now let's go rescue some kittens," Kay announced.

The four Shermans remained uncontested on the way to the beet fields where the Locusts were and along the way picked up three other Locusts who fell in line.

"That's wonderful. Thank you for the good news." Kay hung up the radio.

"What was that about?" Bailey asked.

"Amy suffered a concussion. She's in the hospital. She'll be fine."

The crew of the Easy Eight let out a collective sigh of relief.

"All tanks halt," Kay ordered. She looked at the tree line at the far end of the second field on the other side of the two hedges with her binoculars.

"Okay, all tanks hard right, hard right. Locusts, fall behind a medium."

The tanks turned off the road and onto the barren field. They advanced in a row with Locusts behind Kay, Naomi, and Tess.

"Keep your eye on that tree line," Tess told her gunner.

They crossed the first field without a problem and proceeded to run over the second hedge into the next field. Unknown to any of them, crosshairs were already trained on them. The sight they were greeted with was quiet chaos. Tank tracks swerved all over the field and ended at the burning wrecks of three Locusts while others just seemed to disappear into the ground.

"We got Locusts," Alisa said. Besides the knocked out light tanks, a fully functional Locust could be seen hiding in a small crater. After receiving orders from Kay, it backed out of the crater and fell in behind Alisa's tank as it passed. Tess was about to run over a Locust in a foxhole.

"Charlie 1-2, right stick, right stick! You have a Locust in front of you!" Kay shouted.

"Right stick, right stick, goddamn it!" Tess shouted at her driver.

"Watch where you're going!" Kay shouted and thrusted her finger at the tank next to her.

"They weren't paying attention," Maria mumbled.

Nora shuddered. Was this Kay the same person she met a couple hours ago? She's definitely not the joking and carefree girl she had met.

As they advanced another two Locusts popped up and fell in behind Naomi and Alisa. One more was backing up when a shell screamed past the M4A2 and destroyed the Locust.

"Crap! Did anyone see where that shot came from?!" Kay asked. Another shell ricocheted off the ground between Kay and Tess. Tess's bow gunner started opening up on the location in the tree line where the shell came from.

"Load AP, high explosive," Naomi ordered. Her loader slammed a shell into the breach.

"You're clear!"

Naomi pressed the button and sent the round into the tree line. A spectacular explosion followed soon after.

"Ah ha ha ha ha!" Naomi laughed at her victory.

"There is no time to celebrate," Kay said. A shell threw dirt up in the air in front of the M4A2.

"Got 'im," Bailey said. She fired and ripped apart the tree next to the Jagdpanzer. "Damn!"

Tess's gunner fired followed by Alisa's. Both rounds found their mark and the white flag was raised.

"Does anyone have eyes on a third gun?" Alisa asked. A shell screamed out of the trees and bounced off the rounded edge of the tank's front armor with an ear-piercing screech.

"Oh my god!" Alisa exclaimed.

"Jesus Christ!" one of her crew shouted as they all held their ears.

"That was just a ricochet. You're okay," Kay reassured.

"That sure as hell didn't feel like one," Alisa said, her voice still shaking.

"Everyone, open fire with your machine guns," Kay ordered.

"Everyone, fire your machine guns," Tess echoed.

Coaxial and bow guns roared to life as the tanks crept forward. Red tracers flew, bounce, and exploded as high-explosive incendiary bullets went to work on the trees. Kay's bow gun stayed silent.

"Hey, start shooting," Sam told Nora.

"But what do I shoot at?"

"Where everyone else is shooting."

"What is a machine gun going to do to a tank?"

"Nothing really. But it'll annoy the hell out of them."

"Okay," Nora said unsurely. She lifted the trigger of the M1919A4 and watched the bullets fly. All tanks stopped once they reached the edge of the trees.

"All Locusts, swarm them," Kay said. The light tanks broke cover from behind the mediums and took off into the trees. Just like the pests they were named after, they buzzed around the lone Jagdpanzer IV/70, taking little bites at the tank destroyer with their 37mm guns. The Kuromorimine girls tried to swat them with the 75mm but in doing so, showed their side to the Firefly. Naomi grinned and stepped on the trigger. Last known tank destroyer was eliminated. Kay told her team to keep their heads on a swivel for the Hetzer as she went up to the Jagdpanzer commanders to thank them for a good fight.

It was dark by the time officials took the final group of Kuromorimine girls back to their base and Kay decided to spend the night outside where they were. There were trenches that they could use as shelter and there were even some rooms, albeit a bit small and muddy. At least they can put the supplies on the tanks to good use. As the girls set up the rooms and dug new ones if needed, Kay had the tanks moved into the trees. She radioed the officials telling them they would be staying out of the base for the night and gave them the arena coordinates of where they were. The officials would mark the surrounding area off limits to avoid casualties but would not tell either team whose side the sleepers are on. This also makes it more difficult to pinpoint their exact location. Evidently, Kay's group was not the only ones staying out. She was given two more locations of sleepers. Of course, she didn't know who they were but none of her team reported that they were staying out so she assumed they were Kuromorimine's or Pravda's.

Nora was about to enter a room when Kay hailed her.

"Nice job out there today," Kay complimented.

"But I didn't do anything besides shoot a gun," Nora said modestly.

"You did more than that. You followed the orders and advice of your teammates well and helped make shelters. Also to have your first match to be like this one," Kay chuckled. "You must be the most hardcore newbie I've ever met."

Nora blushed and gave a small smile.

Kay patted her shoulder. "Get some sleep. We've got a long day tomorrow." Nora nodded and entered her room. Nora shared a room with Tess who was in her sleeping bag and reading a book. An electric lantern filled the room with a cold white light. Nora slipped into her own sleeping bag, shivering. Tess got a heat pack from the supply bag at the head of her sleeping bag, squeezed it, and handed it to Nora. Nora thanked her and put the pack on her chest.

"Hey, Tess. Is Kay usually like this?" Nora asked.

"Like what?"

"Joking and playful off the field and very serious on it," Nora clarified.

"No, she's usually very happy and enthusiastic all the time. She's very serious now because she doesn't have to face one, but two Nishizumis," Tess explained.

"Okay...?"

"You don't know the Nishizumis?" Tess asked. Nora shook her head. "Maho Nishizumi; Captain of Black Forest's tankery team and daughter of the best tankery instructor. Very calm, cold, and calculating. She is very good at what she does and never loses except on two occasions and for the same reason: her younger sister Miho.  
Miho is much different than her sister. She is very nice to others and cares for their well being. That's what made Maho lose for the first time. Miho jumped into a river to save a drowning tank, leaving the flag tank uncommanded and unprotected. Miho uses very unorthodox tactics and is very unpredictable as she always has something up her sleeve. That was Maho's second loss when she dueled her sister last season.  
Combine Maho's prowess and Miho's dicey tactics, you got yourself one very powerful opponent."

Nora nodded, understanding her captain and opponents. Her stomach growled loud enough for Tess to hear. Tess failed to suppress her giggle.

"Hungry? Hang on. I should have an MRE somewhere in here," Tess said as she rummaged through her bag.

Kay crawled into a burrow she shared with Alisa and Naomi. There was just enough room for her to sit upright and her sleeping bag was across from Alisa. Naomi was the farthest from the entrance. A heat lamp sat in the middle giving off a fiery orange light. Alisa held her right hand above it. It was shaking slightly.

"How does she do that?" Alisa asked. Kay tipped her head questioningly. Alisa motioned her head toward Naomi who was fast asleep. "She's lights out once her head touches the pillow."

"Well, this isn't actual war so she has nothing to be guilty about," Kay answered. Alisa didn't respond. "Are you still shaken up about that bounce?"

Alisa nodded but didn't say anything.

"Don't worry. This wasn't your first ricochet and it defi-"

"It wasn't just a ricochet!" Alisa exclaimed, raising her voice. Naomi frowned and shut her closed eyes before turning her back on the two girls.

"There was definitely something wrong about that shell," Alisa continued in a quieter voice. "Something about... it just doesn't feel right."

* * *

Meanwhile, somewhere else on the arena, flames flickered aggressively as the fuel of an isolated Saunders M4A2 began to burn. Three girls lay a dozen or so feet from the tank. Two of them were bleeding from serious wounds and the other had burns on her back. There were two more girls right next to the tank. It was the commander was dragging a wounded crew member away from the wreck. The commander herself was suffering from shrapnel wounds and burns and she collapsed halfway to the rest of her crew. Her breaths were raspy and quick as smoke clawed at her throat. A dark figure stood on the edge of the fire's light. It looked at the girls then at the hole in the side of the tank before turning around to walk towards an awaiting Panther.

* * *

**A/N: Well there's the first chapter. Please comment and criticize (constructive preferably). Anyways guys and gals, take care and I hope to catch you in the next chapter. **

**PS: Yes, Tess is supposed to be the girl who shouted "Jesus!" before being taken out by Erwin during the Saunders-Ooarai match.**


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: This chapter was a bit rushed so it may be a bit choppy. Anyways, let's see what the "Germans" are up to.**

* * *

-2-

Night has fallen and the sliver of a moon was already high in the sky. The Panzer IV H that had a brawl earlier that day with Kay's Sherman still had its spot in the graveyard of steel. Some of the plated armor around the turret was gone, the anglerfish emblem charred from an explosion. The side skirts on the left were completely gone, only leaving twisted metal spars. On the right, no skirts remained on the back half near the engine. It was disabled but not out of the game yet.

The silence of the night was broken by the squelch of mud as someone walked away from the Panzer. It was the Yukari Akiyama; the loader of the Anglerfish team. She made her way to an abandoned Panther and climbed onto the engine grate. She scanned the entire field looking for someone to approach. Finally, she saw the silhouette of a German tank crest a mud mound. She quickly made her way back to the Panzer and knocked on the commander's hatch. It opened a moment later to reveal the Captain of the Ooarai tankery team.

"Nishizumi-dono, the Leopon team is here," Yukari reported.

"Thank you, Yukari," responded Miho Nishizumi.

The Leopon team rolled up in what seemed to be a commandeered Kuromorimine Panzer III. Not a bad move either as their tank, the Porsche Tiger, would be too heavy to conquer the terrain they were in and would most likely get stuck in the mud. The team was made up of former Ooarai automotive club members who seem to be able to fix, restore, and convert anything as long as it has wheels and drives on the ground. Once during the championship match last season, they fixed the Porsche Tiger while it was still moving.

Repairs were just about finished when a monotonous thud was heard in the distance. It slowly grew louder and the crews of both tanks looked up and saw three UH-1 Huey helicopters with red crosses on the bottom thunder above them and into the distance.

"Something really bad must've happened if there are three medic choppers," Nakajima said.

"Let's just hope they're okay," Miho added. Everyone murmured in agreement except for Mako Reizei who was asleep in the Panzer IV's driver seat.

"Alright," Hoshino said. "You're good to go."

Saori Takabe, the Anglerfish team's radio operator, shook Mako to wake her up. The driver didn't have to toggle the ignition any more than once to get the engine running. One of the headlights of the Panzer turned on as the other was shot out and Miho ordered both teams back to base.

* * *

Ooarai shared their base with Kuromorimine which was set up similarly to Saunders'. It was an odd sight. On one side, there was the very uniform and diligent with many tanks and tank destroyers and on the other was the very lax group with a handful of tanks. Maho stood in the driveway and when her younger sister returned.

"Miho! I need to talk with you," she said.

"O-Okay," Miho stammered. She hopped out and joined her sister. Maho didn't even flinch as the Panzer III and IV passed no more than a foot away from her.

"We're making a move on the town," Maho said. "Get Suzuki and meet me in the briefing room." Maho was referring to Takako Suzuki (more commonly known as Caesar) of the Hippo team. While she is not the team commander, she takes part in the briefings in place of Riko Matsumoto (also known as Erwin). After Miho found Caesar, they made their way to the war room. Erika Itsumi, Ritaiko, and Koume Akaboshi were also in the room. Maho began to go over the plan.

"Pravda has secured the town. From what our scouts have gathered, they only have T-34/76s defending it. The objective is simple; eliminate the enemy and capture the town. Erika will lead the assault team and Miho will be in charge of the snipers who will provide cover fire from the trees on top of the hill. Erika, once the town has been secured, leave some to defend it and make your way north and meet me here." Maho marked the spot on the map. "Our recon plane spotted Pravda moving towards the hills. With our forces spread as thin as they are you're gonna have to move fast. Any questions?"

The room stayed silent.

"Good. Get something to eat and get some rest. You'll begin your assault at five."

Everyone left save for Maho and Erika. "Is there something you want to say, vice captain?" Maho asked with a hint of irritation in her voice.

Erika was stunned that she didn't call her by her actual name. "Yeah...why do we need the ex-vice captain in this operation? We are entirely capable of handling it ourselves."

Maho tossed her pen down. "First of all, Pravda and Saunders out number our tanks five to one so we can use all the help we can get. Second, Hana Isuzu is a fantastic sniper; on par with Naomi and Nonna. Thirdly, who won the championship last year?"

Erika had nothing to say to that.

"I thought so. You are dismissed."

Meanwhile, Miho was having a friendly chat with Koume. They were catching up on what happened during the time between the championship and present day. Koume announced that she now commands a Panther which Miho congratulated her. After a brief hug, they said good night to each other and retired to their rooms.

* * *

The sun barely crested the horizon in the early morning hours. Kuromorimine and Ooarai crouched like predators in the trees on the hill. Miho and Erika stuck out of their hatches just enough to look down on the town with binoculars.

"It looks like our intel was off," Miho observed.

"Or they hauled ass and got reinforcements," Erika said.

"Hardly reinforcements. T-34/76s, _and_ BT-7s. That shouldn't make much of a difference."

Erika looked at her watch as it struck five o'clock.

"Captain, we're ready to begin our assault," Erika radioed to Maho.

"Copy that. Get this done ASAP," Maho said.

"What's got you riled up?"

"My scouts spotted Pravda's heavies coming our way. We'll need back so finish quickly!" Maho hung up.

Erika stared at her handset with confusion.

"Okay. My squad follow me. We're beginning our attack."

The Tiger II started down the hill with Panther Gs and Panzer IIIs following like ducklings. Miho moved to the edge of the trees along with her Hippo Team, Ritaiko, and a number of Jagdpanzer IV/70s.

In the town, a Pravda T-34 commander was making coffee. She picked up a sugar cube and was about to drop it into her mug when the dark liquid started to ripple. The ripples grew bigger and bigger until the mug was engulfed in a small tsunami. Dishes and furniture started to rattle and the commander walked outside to find a Tiger II crawling towards her.

"Enemy!" She shouted and began running to her tank. "The enemy is here!" She was knocked to the ground when an 88mm shell screamed past her and destroyed her tank. She was in so much shock that her crew had to drag her back into the building for safety.

"Taking quite the risk there, vice captain?" a Panther commander asked with a hint of amusement.

"Saya is accurate enough to not hit a girl even if she is in the way," Erika responded with a grin.

A BT-7 appeared right in front of Erika's Tiger and was squished into a wall of a building. The Panther behind Erika fired and made the light tank unconditionally surrender.

Meanwhile, the snipers were having a field day as the field to the left of the town was dotted with white-flagged tanks. Hana was trying to take down a T-34 but it was side-scraping so almost any shot would bounce. Miho got on the radio.

"Koume, where are you?"

"On the left of the first courtyard. Why?"

"Okay, I see you," Miho said looking through her binoculars. "I need you to go forward fifty meters and on your left there is a wall. I need you to shoot through it."

"Copy."

Koume's Panther crept forward to the specified location. The turret turned ninety degrees but didn't fire. Koume wasn't sure where to shoot and tried looking for the T-34. Finally, she saw the muzzle flash.

"Gunner, aim for the first pillar and the building!" she ordered. The gun swiveled slightly to the left. "Fire!"

From Miho's perspective, it looked liked the bricks thrown by the shell took out the tank. Radio chatter picked up.

"Was that the last one?"

"Looks like it."

"Man, we steamrolled them! Am I right guys?"

"Cut the chatter girls." Erika ordered. "Ms. Nishizumi will pick who will defend the town with her. Everyone else follow me north."

Outside of town on a small hill, a Hellcat had observed the entire battle. The commander looked at the Pravda's wrecked tanks, then to the tanks advancing north, and back to whatever tanks were left in the town. After taking down the types of vehicles in the town, she ordered her driver to back up out of sight.

* * *

Maho was probably having the most stressful time of her life. A T-34 shot her Tiger H1 and bounced, causing a terrible ring in the fighting compartment. Her gunner easily took the T-34 out but another one took its place and fired, missing its shot. She had tank destroyers on the ridge behind her and mediums with her in the recess of the hill. They tried to eliminate the enemy as quickly as possible but more just kept coming.

Looking through her viewports, Maho saw Ooarai's Hetzer weaving in and out of the enemy ranks, firing at anything that entered its sights. Ooarai's Type 3 Chi Nu wasn't doing too bad themselves. The gamer team was already on their third "kill" and could be heard cheering through the intercoms over the rest of the radio traffic and deafening booms.

"IS-1! IS-1!" her gunner yelled. Maho looked at the hill and saw it slam down onto the ground after cresting.

"Take it out quickly!" Maho ordered.

"I'm still loading!" said the loader.

Maho saw the IS-1's turret swing onto her tank but before it could fire, it was engulfed in a fireball and the white flag deployed.

"We're not too late to the party are we?" Maho heard Erika ask.

"No. Not at all."

The sky darkened as heavy fighting ensued. Pravda's T-34/76s were locked in combat with Kuromorimine's Tigers, Panthers, and Panzer IIIs. Nothing was spared. Trees were uprooted and grass disintegrated. Most of the destroyed tanks were Pravda's but some of Kuromorimine's less armored Panzers and Panthers also joined the graveyard of steel. The Chi Nu was passing a functional Panther when what seemed to be a high explosive shell took out the Panther and sprayed the Chi Nu with shrapnel.

"What was that?!" Momoga, the driver, asked in between gasps. The commander, Nekota, scanned the ridgeline and made a call to everyone.

"Everyone watch out! The King of Derp is on its way!"

"'The King of Der-', what is she talking about?" Erika asked. She looked up at the hill and saw a distinctive moving box.

"Oh. That."

The KV-2 fired and spat mud all over Maho's Tiger before pulling back to reload.

"Saya, when it pops its head up again, you blow it off," Erika ordered. Saya nodded in confirmation. Some thirty or so seconds later, the KV-2 began cresting the hill but in a different spot from where Saya was aiming.

"Oh, shit!" Saya cursed and swiveled the turret to retarget the tank. The KV-2 fired first but its 152mm howitzer shell was suspended in the air as Saya fired the Tiger II's 88mm gun. The 88mm shell knocked out the KV-2 and the 152mm high explosive shell slammed into the Tiger. The entire tank shook as the force visibly pushed the heavy into a Panther that was passing in very close proximity.

"Status?!" Erika demanded.

"Tracks are gone, horizontal and vertical turret drives are damaged, the barrel is damaged...we are completely out of commission!"

Maho spotted a T-34/85 come over the hill and ordered her gunner to target it. She knew Katyusha and her second-in-command, Nonna, usually command T-34/85s unless Nonna was in the IS-2, but the IS was nowhere to be seen at the time, so there was a good chance that this one was Katyusha's or Nonna's. Maho's gunner fired and nailed the T-34 in the turret ring and it came to a halt. She was puzzled. There was no explosion or white flag...only a spark. Her crew seemed to have noticed as well.

"What happened?"

"Did it bounce?"

"At that angle? I doubt it could have."

Before the 88 could be reloaded, the tank reversed quickly back over the hill and any functional Pravda tank followed.

With a lull in the action Maho began to spell out her plan.

"I want the TD's to stay where they are on the hill and I want our tanks at the bottom of the slope and on our side of the hill Pravda came over. Let's take advantage of their bad gun depression. Kadotani, you're in charge."

"Alrighty!" Anzu said in a sing-song voice. "You heard her ladies! Get to your positions!"

"My squad, we're heading back to base. Erika, you ride with me."

Erika's crew climbed onto the back of Maho's Tiger and Erika sat on the turret next to the commander's hatch.

Back at base, a couple of Erika's crew carried Saya to her room as she had a major headache after being hit by a 152mm shell and a Panther. Erika followed Maho, seeing if she could get a replacement for her Tiger II.

"We've no spare Tiger IIs. Pick any medium you want," Maho said.

"But Captain, I know we still have some heavies," Erika said.

"You are correct. We've got two, but only one I would allow you to use."

"May I please have it?" Erika said on the edge of begging.

Maho sighed. "It's an early model Tiger I, if you don't mind."

"No I don't."

"It's in the hangar, far left next to the wall."

Erika thanked Maho and walked towards the hangar when another girl walked up to her.

"Is there a problem?" Maho asked.

"Um, yes," the girl pushed her index fingers together nervously. "We seem to be missing a Panther."

"Which one?"

"Number sixteen."

"Geshiko's?"

The messenger nodded.

"Where was she last seen?" Maho asked.

"Uh, actually she is on base with her crew. It's only the tank that is missing."

"Ugh. Tell Geshiko to use another Panther for the time being. I'm going to report to the officials. God knows if they'll believe that a panzer was stolen from right under our noses."

In the hangar, Erika walked down the line of tanks. The number of tanks has shrunk significantly since the last time she had been in there. It's hard to believe that they could still imagine themselves winning.

_No! Stupid Erika!_ She scolded herself as she lightly hit her head. _Don't think like that! We're Kuromorimine! We don't lose! But then again..._

Erika thought back to two years prior and last year. Both losses because of Miho. But she was on their side now so would it really matter that much? She reached the end and found two vehicles covered in tarps. She looked at both of their silhouettes. They were definitely both Tiger I's but she yanked the cover off the one near the wall revealing the red numbers on turret: Tiger number 131.

Erika looked back at the covered Tiger.

_If these are both Tigers, why is Maho protective over that one?_

* * *

**A/N: So just a little peek at what is going on with Kuromorimine and Ooarai. I'll be going back to Saunders' point of view in the next chapter. Anyways ladies and gents, take care and I'll see you in the next chapter.**


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N: References and symbolism everywhere! Also, I purposely left a grammatical error early on in the chapter. See if you can spot it and get the reference!**

* * *

-3-

Tess woke up to late morning light filtering through the entrance of the den. She was the only one there. Nora's pillow and sleeping bag were nowhere to be seen. Yawning, she crawled out of the room and into the trench. The short-haired brunette stood up and stretched and found her roommate's belongings in a neat pile on top of the trench. The commander of the M4A2 looked around and found the newbie sitting on the turret of the Easy Eight.

The sun filtered through the trees, giving the four Shermans a dappled pattern of sunlight. Nora was leaning against the mount for the Browning M2 .50 caliber machine gun with a pencil and sketchbook in hand. Each tank in Kay's platoon at the moment, except for the Locusts, has a machine gun mounted on the turret. All the Shermans have an M2, but only Kay's Sherman boasted an M1919 as well.

Nora was humming a soft tune while her pencil glided across the paper. She'd only been at it for an hour, but an hour was all she needed to finish with the lines.

"That tune sounds familiar."

Nora looked to her left and saw Tess jumping from her M4A2 to the Easy Eight.

"Do you watch anime?" Nora asked.

"A little" Tess said.

"It's a character's song."

"Do you know the lyrics?"

Nora put her hand on her chin as she tried to recall the lyrics.

"I'm not a song writer, but I believe that the English lyrics go somewhat like..." Nora began to sing softly.

_The dawn a-rises to the sky,  
Betraying the tomorrow that we believe._

_And yet, I will not give up hope nor abandon my small prayers!  
Don't give up even when you cannot reach out and get through,  
I'll just hold out my arms and embrace you,  
I'll be here beside you,_

_Forever..._

"That was beautiful," Tess complimented.

"I-I don't know about that." Nora blushed as she was aware that her singing was not the best in the world.

"Anyway, what're you drawing?"

"The subject of the character song," Nora said. She wasn't done drawing yet, so she gave Tess her smart phone which had a picture on it. The picture showed yellow haired girl with unique looking pigtails, wearing a beret, a white blouse with puffy sleeves at the shoulders, a pair of detached sleeves, and fingerless gloves. She also wore a yellow skirt, brown corset and thigh highs, and western styled boots.

"A bit to moe for me," Tess said.

"I agree. I'm not one for the character designs, but I definitely love the show. If I was the one who was designing the characters, they would look a lot more serious." Nora handed her finished sketch to Tess. The sketch still had the same style hair and outfit, but everything else was far from a moe character. The drawing's body proportions were more realistic and the image gave off an intimidating yet awesome and beautiful feel to it.

"That's very good," Tess complimented with awe.

"I think I could've done better," Nora said.

"You're too modest. Give yourself more credit."

There were a couple of minutes of silence as Tess leaned against the machine gun and watched Nora flip a page and start sketching again. Now, the picture on Nora's phone was an anime woman in a blue military outfit with gray hair and wolf ears.

"Did you know that the bow gunner is also the assistant driver?" Tess asked.

Nora looked up at Tess, showing complete alarm on her face.

"I'll take that as a no." Tess hopped down next to the driver's hatch.

"I have no idea how to drive a tank!" Nora flustered in panic. "I only just got my driver's license last week!"

Tess opened the driver's hatch and looked at Nora.

"No need to worry. I'll teach you. Come on."

Nora closed her small sketchbook book with the pencil inside, put it in her jacket pocket, and her phone in her pants pocket.

"I'll go over the controls first."

Meanwhile, Kay was sitting at the top of the trench eating an MRE of beef teriyaki. She was marking where her team was on the map. A couple of squads have left the base to go look for trouble and have radioed their intentions to Kay. Item squad, a squad of M24 Chaffees, had been very specific to keep radio silent, so the blonde let them be. All her tanks were accounted for except for one; an M4A2 nicknamed 'Fighting Girl'.

The commander of the M4A2, Cameron, hadn't been heard from since yesterday afternoon when her tank's tracks were taken out. Since the enemy tanks in the area were knocked out, she told the rest of her squad to head back to base. Cameron had reported when their track was fixed, but she is still missing. Kay had ordered Alisa to keep trying to hail them but so far, nothing. Alisa walked to Kay with a piece of paper in hand.

"Kay, I've gotten a game objective from one of the marshals," she said.

"What's it say?"

"Basically, there's a crashed German plane carrying a suitcase with sensitive Black Forest information."

"Get Tess and Naomi and tell everyone else to get ready to move in ten," Kay ordered.

These objectives were meant to simulate lost intelligence. Intel were placed in suitcases and hidden throughout the arena in buildings, vehicles, crashed planes, and sometimes even buried. The intel would belong to one of the teams and they would have to regain it before the opposing team could capture it. If the opposing team does secure the intel, then they would get information about the other team to gain an advantage. A catch was that the officials would alert one team or the other and it was up to the uninformed girls to find out for themselves. Kay hasn't gotten a hold of any but she was quite sure Kuromorimine had gotten at least one which led to the ambush that put Amy in the hospital. Sure it was a victory, but definitely pyrrhic.

Kay's plan to get to the plane was to use a similar tactic to the one they used in the beet fields against the tank destroyers but Tess voiced her worries.

"You said that the objective is in an apple orchard, correct?"

"Yes," Kay answered.

"How big is the orchard?"

"About 150 acres," Alisa said looking at the map.

"That's big..." Tess murmured.

"What's the problem? I can act as sniper support as usual," Naomi said.

"Normally I wouldn't object, but it is the middle of summer-" Tess began.

"And that means the apple trees would be in full bloom," Kay finished as she lightly face-palmed herself.

"No solid cover but a lot of concealment. It's basically CQC," Naomi commented. Kay didn't answer as she tried to think of a new way to get the objective without losing too many tanks. Actually, without losing any would be more ideal.

"May I suggest the Jumbos, Cap?" Tess asked.

"Good idea!" Kay exclaimed.

Kay called Peyton; the girl in charge of a squadron of Sherman Jumbos. She only had two Jumbos armed with 75mm guns available at the moment. Kay acknowledged that they will do as she mainly wanted the thick front armor and the combat ranges would be close anyway. Peyton said that the tanks would arrive to the orchard in about 45 minutes to an hour.

"Alright, girls!" Kay shouted. "Everyone mount up! We're leaving in sixty seconds!"

The tanks were quickly underway with the four Shermans in their marching order and the seven Locusts staggered throughout the formation. As they vigilantly traveled down the dirt road, their P-51 made a pass right above them before climbing back up to altitude. Not a minute later, a black M18 Hellcat, nicknamed 'Hell-O-Kitty', pulled up alongside Kay's tank. The commander of the tank destroyer opened her hatch.

"'Sup, Ruby," Kay said.

"Nothing much. The sun's out, the birds are singing, and Black Forest kicked Pravda's asses and captured the town."

"Which town?"

"The one not far from the apple trees."

"Their tanks?"

"One Panzer IV, one Panther, and assorted Panzer IIIs."

Kay looked at her watch. It would take them about ten minutes to get to the town and the Jumbos would be expected to arrive twenty minutes after that. Yeah, they got time.

"Alright, slight change of plans," Kay said to her platoon. "We're going to recapture the town first before heading towards the orchard."

Ruby went on to scout the road ahead leaving the tankers to spend some time unbuttoned. Kay was standing out of her hatch and Bailey was standing out of the second turret hatch. Maria was sitting on the turret behind them, leaning over the machine gun.

Of course Sam was doing nothing but driving, but she looked to her right when she heard a soft crunch. It was Nora, eating a chocolate bar.

"Where'd you get that?" Sam asked.

"Tess gave it to me," Nora answered.

"I thought you didn't like chocolate. Taking that you hadn't eaten any that we got."

"I like dark chocolate."

"And you let the commander of Charlie 1-2 seduce you with it, huh?" Sam said with a smile.

Nora's chewing stopped and she slowly turned her head to look at the driver. Nora's eyes were wide open and a chocolate square could be seen hanging out of her slacked mouth. Sam just smiled even wider.

"So... what's your affiliation?" Sam asked mischievously. "Bi or lez?"

Nora's face became bright red with embarrassment. Then she made an attempt to smack Sam, who held up her right arm in faux defense.

"So, she's more than a friend is that it?" Sam asked.

"That's not true!" the brunette cried. "She's a friend! That's it! A friend!"

"You still haven't answered my question. Bi or lez?"

"Straight! Straight! For the love of Christ, I'm straight!"

Kay watched the girls with amusement and turned her attention to Bailey and Maria. Their conversation had something to do with Adolf Hitler.

"I'm just saying that he was seen as a great leader and probably be seen as one of the greatest leaders ever if he didn't do the Holocaust," Bailey said.

"But the Holocaust did happen," Maria remarked.

"That's it! I'm done. I'm done trying to explain what could've happened if it didn't happen. Do you mind if I continue to attack Black Forest?"

"Bailey, do you think Jesus loves Hitler?" Kay asked.

"Do I think Jesus loves Hitler? I'd assume so. Hitler was born to a Catholic mother and was baptized. So yes, I'd say Jesus loves Hitler."

"One might peg you for a Nazi sympathizer," Maria said.

"Oh, come on! Every time we play against Black Forest, this same conversation always comes up. We've talked about the same dumb shit for three years so you know my answer is 'I ain't a Nazi'," Bailey said.

"Since we talked about the same dumb shit for three years, you know I will continue to annoy you," Maria said as she moved her finger to a red mark on Bailey's upper right lip.

"What're you doing? Stop that!" Bailey exclaimed as she tried to stop the loader.

"What? I'm only trying to touch your scar," Maria said.

"It's not a scar. It's just a scratch. Stop!"

"May I please touch your scar? I want to touch your scar."

"Stop, Maria!"

"Why does that bother you so much?"

"I'll push you off the tank! I'll push you off, I swear!"

"Alright, knock it off. Knock off the horseplay," Kay said, intervening. The two girls finally stopped and Bailey put her hands in her jacket pockets.

"Do you see a resemblance between Hitler and Shiho Nishizumi?" Kay asked.

"Yeah, they're both totalitarian leaders," Bailey said. Kay looked over the front of the turret and saw that Nora was still snacking on the chocolate.

"Bailey, do you think Shiho would fuck one of us for a chocolate bar?" Kay asked.

The gunner laughed.

"Yeah, I hope so."

There was a few seconds of silence before the girls on the turret burst out laughing.

* * *

A couple minutes later, they have reached the town. Everyone was buttoned up except for the commanders of the mediums. Black smoke still billowed from Pravda's tanks but it seemed that the crews have already been collected. There was a fork in the road as they closed in on the buildings.

"Alisa, Naomi. Take the right. We'll be taking left. Tess you're with me," Kay ordered.

"Copy. Let's go, bubble gum," Alisa said to Naomi.

The Shermans split up and three Locusts followed Alisa and the other four went after Kay. Kay slowly moved through the streets and turned left at a corner. When they did they were met with a T-34/76 billowing black smoke which obstructed their view from seeing further down the street.

"Sam, just punch through that wall of smoke," Kay ordered.

"Copy."

On the other side, there was a BT-7 on the sidewalk. The crew looked like they were attempting to repair it. Kay told Sam to halt. A Locust behind them maneuvered around the tank and continued to creep forward slowly. One of the Pravda girls, presumably the commander, looked at Kay.

"Pravda. Where are the Black Forest tanks?" Kay asked.

"I believe-"

A loud bang was heard and the Locust that ventured ahead had the white flag sticking out of its turret.

"Contact!" someone yelled.

Kay began shooting the M1919 at the building in front of them that was across the square.

"Bailey, follow my burst."

The gunner lowered the barrel until she was aiming at the curtained show windows of the ground floor.

"On the way!" Bailey stepped on the button.

The round obliterated the front of the store which brought the wall of the first and second floor crashing down. A Kuromorimine Panzer III was sitting in the store along with two Panzer IIs. Kay continued to fire at the tanks. Bailey fired the co-ax as did the two Locusts that moved up, one on either side of the Sherman.

"Clear!" Maria said.

"On the way!" Again, Bailey fired and took out the Panzer III. The light tanks rapid fired their 37mm guns and took out the Panzer IIs.

"All tanks; move forward slowly," Kay ordered.

The metal tracks clicked as they moved forward unaware that to their forward-left, something lurked in the basement. Suddenly, automatic fire filled the air and took out the Locust on the left. Kay looked down and saw white tracers bounce all over the place as they came out of the cellar. She was too far forward to do anything so she radioed Tess.

"Yo, Tess. See that BF auto-cannon in the cellar? Mind giving her a what for?"

"Let me slap 'im around for ya. Button up," Tess said.

Kay closed her hatch. The shooting had stopped probably because they had to reload. Then the loud report of the 75mm gun sounded. Rocks and debris fell down onto the tanks.

"For crying out loud," Kay mumbled, flinching from falling dust when she opened her hatch. What she saw was that what used to be the corner of the building the Panzer II was hiding under was now a pile of debris. She looked back at Tess who just shrugged.

They were underway again and as the Easy Eight turned right around the corner, a shell came flying across the courtyard and sparked off the front armor. The shell's owner was a Panzer III and it could be seen slowly backing up down the street parallel to the building's corner that Kay was coming around.

"Contact! Load AP!" Kay ordered.

The shell was quickly loaded and fired, but it hit the lower plate of the Panzer III. Simulating a destroyed transmission, the Panzer III stopped. Its turret moved to find a better weak spot on the Sherman.

"Come on, Maria! Load quickly!" Bailey said.

Nora was watching the events unfold and she didn't like feeling helpless and wait for 'death'. Then she remembered that she had an M1919 loaded with high-explosive incendiary rounds. Nora let out a burst at the Panzer III and saw the bullets explode into little puffs of smoke on the armor. She held down the trigger and walked the tracers up the Panzer III's hull until they reached the gunsight.

"What are you doing?!" the Panzer III commander screamed. "Shoot them already!"

"I can't see where I'm aiming!" the gunner whined.

Nora continued to obstruct the gunner's view. The gunner took a chance and took a blind shot, but it harmlessly ricocheted off the Sherman's side turret armor.

"You're clear!" Maria shouted.

"On the way!" Bailey fired and the white flag was deployed.

"Nice one, Nora," Kay commented.

Nora smiled and the column continued down the road and into the main square at the center of the town. When they arrived, they saw Alisa, Naomi, and Ruby cornering a Panther G against a building. There seemed to be an opening that the Panther was blocking. The commander, Koume, was out of the hatch with her hands up.

"Please don't shoot. We surrender," Koume said.

"Why surrender?" Kay asked.

Koume shrugged.

"It's only a game."

"Okay. Tell the remainder of your team to come out. Unbuttoned," Kay ordered.

The Panther shifted into reverse and slowly revealed the opening behind it.

Kuromorimine surrendering? That did not sit well with Kay.

"Girls, load a round in case these guys try to test us," Kay said.

"It'll be my pleasure," Tess responded.

The first tank to reveal itself was a Panzer II with its crew visible, then a Panzer III, Ooarai's StuG III, and then someone Kay did not expect to see.

"Well," Kay remarked. "If it isn't Miho Nishizumi."

* * *

Kay had met up with the two Sherman Jumbos sent by Peyton and they slowly started to comb the orchard. One of the Jumbos was nicknamed 'Big Shot' while the other was unnamed and they were commanded by Esther and Shylene respectively. Kay only took Naomi with her and left Alisa, Tess, and Ruby to keep watch on the 'POWs'. The Jumbos were on point and the two mediums followed, using them as cover. Nora was contemplating on the fight in the town.

"Was expecting something a little more unexpected?" Sam asked, reading her thoughts.

"Yeah. I was expecting her to pull some crazy maneuver or something," Nora said.

"I guess you heard Tess's story about the Nishizumis," Sam said.

"Is it not true?"

"No, it's true," Kay butted in. "She really does have weird strategies. But from what I've seen, she usually comes up with them in desperation which usually calls for sacrificing one of her own teammates. Also, she's working with another team who is not used to her tactics so they wouldn't work as well. On top of that, I think she's taking orders from Maho more than anything."

Then there was an unexpected bump.

"What the heck was that?" Maria asked.

Kay opened her hatch and looked behind them just in time to see the Firefly run over a piece of metal.

"That was a plane's wing," Kay said.

"Just how realistic are they trying to make this match?" Bailey piped up.

"Apparently too realistic," Esther said as the tanks came to a stop.

In front of them was a muddy ditch and it stretched perpendicular to them. All four tanks stopped at the ditch and the commanders looked up and down the scarred earth. Along the ditch were knocked down trees and at the end of it was a wrecked Junkers Ju-52.

"Well then. I guess we found it," Naomi said.

The tanks turned hard left and drove single file along the mud trail.

"Contact!" Esther shouted. "Two Panthers and two Panzer IIIs by the plane!"

"You're free to engage the targets!" Kay said.

The 75mm rang out and Shylene's Jumbo fell out of line to get a shot at Kuromorimine. The tanks quickly exchanged fire as the 200 meter distance shrank rapidly. One of the Panthers shot at Esther. Her driver quickly angled the Jumbo and the round bounced off the side armor and straight into the front armor of Shylene's Jumbo. Luckily it didn't penetrate. The enemy tanks began to pull out and make a run for it. They split up in Panther-Panzer III pairs.

"Which one should we go after?" Shylene asked.

"Did you see which one took the case?" Kay asked.

"No, ma'am," Esther said.

"We split up then."

Saunders split with Kay and Shylene in one group and Naomi and Esther in the other.

Kay and Shylene have lost sight of their target but it wasn't difficult to follow the muddy tracks left by their prey. They quickly regain sight of them. The Panther was barreling through the trees and the Panzer III slid in behind the Panther, blocking Saunders' shots. The Panzer III rapid fired its 50mm. As expected, the rounds bounced off, but it wasn't exactly harmless. It was detrimental...for the Panzer III crew.

"That Panzer is really starting to piss me off," Shylene said, her teeth chattering from the resonating impacts.

Shylene ordered her gunner to take out the Panzer III. Her gunner fired and the round hit the engine. The medium slowed to a stop and the Saunders girls flashed by.

"All yours, Kay," Shylene said.

The Easy Eight passed the Jumbo.

"They can out run us!" Kay shouted. "Bailey, aim for the-!"

"I know! I know!" Bailey screamed.

The gunner aimed for the back armor and fired. The Panther caught fire but slowly began to turn its turret to aim at the Sherman.

"Sam, get on its left side!" Bailey ordered.

Sam drove to the left side of the Panther and knocked down several trees before screeching to a halt. Bailey sent a shell into the side of the Panther which finally deployed the white flag. Kay hopped onto the turret of the Panther and opened the commander's hatch.

"Is the case in here?" Kay subconsciously shouted.

"No. We haven't got it," the commander said.

Kay hopped back onto the Easy Eight and grabbed the radio without getting back into the tank itself.

"Naomi, come in! Naomi?!"

Naomi and Esther had their drivers get their tanks moving as fast as they could while dodging 50mm and 75mm shots. Unexpectedly, a hail of shells slammed into the side of the Jumbo. Esther looked out of a viewport to her right and saw two more Panzer IIIs.

"We got two Panzers to our right," Esther reported.

"Go ahead and take care of them. I got this," Naomi said.

The Jumbo turned right and charged the newcomers when Naomi got Kay's call.

"Naomi! We came up dry! Your Panther has the case!"

"Copy."

The Firefly commander took out the Panzer III, before turning her attention to the Panther. She aimed for the tracks and fired. The Panther jerked and skidded, exposing its side. Naomi's loader reported that the gun was loaded and she fired once more to take out the tank. And just like Kay said, the Panther did have the case.

Kay and Shylene arrived at Naomi's location a short while later and found her sitting on top of the Firefly's turret. She tossed the case to Kay. It was a black briefcase with two latches that had combination locks. On the top, there was a series of numbers and letters. Kay radioed a marshal and read the number.

"This is Kay. I've gotten a hold of a briefcase. The number is 7-4-5-Baker-How-0-2-Love-6," Kay reported. She was given the three-digit combination of '0-5-8'. She opened the case and found a sheet of paper that had a long list of radio frequencies. Nodding slightly, she folded the piece of paper and put it in her pocket. She climbed out of the hatch and watched some of her girls use their tanks as stepping stools to pick the bright red apples. Then she noticed Nora walking along the row of trees, looking at something among the trees.

"What're you doing, Nora?" Kay asked.

"There's something over there," Nora said, pointing in the direction of the object.

Kay hopped off the tank and went to Nora. Yep, there was definitely something in among the trees. She began to walk towards it and Nora and Naomi followed. As they got closer, they could that it was a tank. As they stepped into the same clearing, it became a Sherman tank with all its hatches open; a very dark and burnt Sherman.

"What's this doing here?" Naomi asked.

"It could be one of those props that were placed around the map," Kay said.

"I...I don't think so," Nora said.

"What makes you say that?" Kay asked.

Nora stepped up to the side of the hull and wiped at the ash and grime with her hand. A couple of laborious strokes later revealed a white shield with a blue star and a yellow lightning bolt. It was one of Saunders' tanks.

"This is one of our tanks?!" Kay exclaimed. Nora nodded.

"Apparently."

"How the heck could this have happened?"

"I think I found how the heck his could have happened," Naomi said from the other side of the tank.

The commander and bow gunner rushed around and found a giant hole near the engine compartment, along with evidence of a fuel fire. As Kay and Nora inspected the damage, Naomi wiped at the armor near the front of the tank.

"Well, I guess we know whose tank it was," Naomi said.

The uncovered partial inscription was 'Fighting Gi'.

"It was Cameron's tank."

There was a long moment of silence until Kay finally gathered her thoughts.

"I'll call the officials when we get back to the town. They are alright, I'm sure."

Nora and Naomi just stiffly nodded and followed their commander back to the tanks.

* * *

Kay leaned forward in the empty Easy Eight and rubbed her eyebrows. She had just got off the radio with a marshal. Cameron along with her crew are now in the hospital, which is good, but they were all still in very serious condition. Judging by the report she had received, it seemed that Cameron did not have any way of calling for help when the incident happened, so someone had to have sent a distress call. Something that bothered Kay was that it was unknown who sent the call.

Outside, it was already dark but the town square was lit up like a festival. Saunders, Kuromorimine, and Ooarai planned to stay there for the night and girls were doing various things in the square. Many of them were having pleasant conversations, others were leaning close to another to whisper some juicy gossip, and some danced to music that was being played over a Bluetooth speaker.

There wasn't much in the choice of food since all they had were MREs, but someone was able to sweeten up the menu. One of the Kuromorimine girls used the oven in a restaurant to make apple pie.

After finishing her piece of the pie, Alisa was in her tank, scanning the radio frequencies that were on the paper that Kay gave her. Many of the stations were static, but on the off chance that there were others using the frequency, she would jot down the frequency number and who might be using it. So far, she came across two of Pravda's and possibly one of Kuromorimine's.

While everyone was socializing with one another, Nora was sitting by herself on the edge of the fountain in the center of the square. She had her sketchbook out and an empty plate with pie crumbs sitting next to her. In her book, she was finishing a sketch. It was a woman in a field of fire with wings of flaming feathers on her back. She was naked and her posture would've allowed the viewer to see the more intimate parts of her body if it wasn't for the aggressive fire swirling around her.

Kay walked up to her and sat down.

"Nice work," she complimented, albeit in a distracted tone. "In my three years, I never thought of using the gun as a tool to blind the opponent."

Nora just made a noise to confirm that she heard her team captain.

"Kay," Nora began. "I've been wondering. Why haven't you given your tank a name? It seems that many other crews have done so."

Kay scratched the back of her head.

"I haven't really thought it," Kay said. "It's not really on my list of things to do. When I do think about it, I couldn't come up with a name that my crew would agree on."

Nora nodded and went back to her sketching.

Before Kay left, she picked up a piece of paper that had a sketch titled "_Bretagne_" that was signed and dated by Nora. This one was also a woman, but she was in a navy officer's uniform and had on a backpack that resembled battleship gun turrets. She had a face twisted in anger as she pointed to something out of frame. The caption at the bottom of the page read:

"I don't care if you're the Hood! You sunk me! There's no reason for me to cooperate with you!"

Kay raised her eyebrows at the peculiarity of the picture. Of course, she's one to talk as she is a school girl that lives and goes to school on a giant ship and drives tanks as an extracurricular activity! She put the sketch back down and said good night to Nora and left.

Nora put her pencil down and reached into a bag of apples that was next to her. She bit into one and immediately screwed up her face at the foul taste. She looked at the apple in her hand and saw that it was completely rotten. Gagging, Nora spat out the rotten contents and sifted through the bag for another, only to find that they were all blackening. She grimaced and thought to herself in disgust.

_One bad apple is all it takes to taint the entire bag._

* * *

The next morning, the square was once again full of school girls. Some were working on their tanks and others were getting a last conversation in with their rivals before they went their separate ways.

"We'll allow your team to leave before we move out," Kay said to Miho.

"Thank you very much," Miho said with a small bow.

"But just so you know, if you tell that sister of yours to attack us before we get in our tanks, you can be damn sure that we'll retaliate with the full force of a tsunami," Kay said with a smirk.

"I don't plan to," Miho said, catching Kay's drift.

They made a firm handshake when Ruby called to Kay.

"Take care," Kay said as she slapped Miho's arm.

Kay walked over to Ruby who was at a table under the overhang of a building.

"I've got a call from one of my squad mates. Pravda has taken the hills at the northern end of the map," Ruby said.

"How many tanks are they down?" Kay asked, fully aware that Kuromorimine would have the range and armor advantage over the T-34.

"I don't know. She didn't say. But she did say that the Black Forest has lost all their Tigers, IIs and Is, except for Maho's Tiger I."

"Let's hope the information is accurate," Kay said, and then muttered under her breath. "It's just like Katyusha to not give the truth, even to her allies."

"Uh, Katyusha wasn't the one to contact us. It was Nonna."

"Eh?" Kay tilted her head to one side. "Why didn't little 'Miss Height Envy' tell us herself?"

"No idea," Ruby shrugged. "But I need to go over what our scouts have to report," she said as she walked over to the table with a map.

Elsewhere in the square, Erwin and Yukari could be seen leaning back in their chairs with a round patio table in between them. On the table was what resembled a wine bottle and there was also a plate of cheese. Yukari was talking to Tess who was standing over them with her arms crossed and an eyebrow raised.

Over on the Easy Eight, Maria was showing Nora how to fill up the gas tank and told her explicitly that the Easy Eight took gasoline instead of diesel. Bailey was watching their interaction from the commander's hatch.

"Is this gas?" Nora asked as she grabbed an olive green can.

"Open it and find out," Maria said.

Nora was about to unscrew the cap when someone shrieked in panic.

"INCOMING!"

A faint whistle quickly turned into a scream as something fell right on top of the girls.

"Maria, jump! Jump!" Bailey shouted. The gunner ducked into the tank and slammed the hatch behind her.

Maria looked at Bailey with a puzzled look, then to Nora. The newbie had the same face but all confusion was destroyed when an explosion erupted in the square and sent a geyser of dirt into the air. More loud booms followed as the loader and assistant driver jumped off and dove under the tank. Panicked screams came from anyone and everyone as they tried to run for cover. Sam tripped and fell, but curled up into a ball as the explosions continued. The thunderous booms persisted, followed by a fiery explosion and shattering of glass.

The barrage ceased and the only sounds came from a crackling fire and girls crying in distress.

* * *

**A/N: I hope you enjoyed the third chapter! Please leave a review and tell me what you think. As usual ladies and gents, take care and I'll see you in the next chapter.**

**The song Nora sang is _Mirai_ by Kalafina, at around the 50 second spot. I changed up some of the lyrics to get it to flow somewhat smoother in English.  
**

**The military woman on Nora's phone is Aurora E. Juutilainen from _Strike Witches._**

**The woman of fire is an OC I thought up for _Strike Witches_ and may appear in a future fiction for _SW_.**

**"Bretagne" is French battleship Bretagne in the Kantai Collection setting. Historically, Bretagne was attacked and sunk by Royal Navy ships HMS Hood, Valiant and Resolution during the Attack on Mers-el-Kébir on July 3, 1940.**


	4. Chapter 4

**A/N: The fourth chapter is here! Since it can get confusing with many of the events taking place at the same time, I'll clear some of it up.**

**Chapter 1 starts on Day 1, ends on Day 1.**

**Chapter 2 starts on Day 2, ends on Day 2.**

**Chapter 3 starts on Day 2, ends on Day 3.**

**Chapter 4 starts on Day 3.**

* * *

-4-

The midnight air hung heavy with anxiety above the base. As noisy as a tank base should be, it was absolutely silent. No engines were on. No one spoke. No one moved. All the girls were gathered in a circle, giving much needed space to the individuals in the center.

One girl in the center began to sob as medics lifted a mangled body of a girl onto a stretcher. The injured girl was missing her right leg just above the knee. She was unresponsive and unconscious but she was still breathing with very short breaths.

As she was wheeled to a waiting helicopter, the attention rested on the two remaining girls in the circle.

Nonna and Katyusha.

Katyusha was unconscious but was in much better shape than the girl who was just wheeled away. The Pravda team captain was bleeding from multiple wounds but was intact overall. Nonna was next to her, gently moving the blonde's bangs away from her eyes. Katyusha's eyes were closed and her breathing kept a rhythmic beat as did her heart.

The medics came over and lifted her onto the stretcher and took her to the helicopter. On the way, Katyusha opened her eyes.

"Nonna," she said.

"Yes, Katyusha?" Nonna responded.

"Bring...Bring me victory."

The doors closed and the helicopter left the area.

Silence fell over the base once more. Nonna clenched her fist as she thought of the events that had transpired.

Katyusha had ordered every tank to charge over the hills towards Kuromorimine's position. During the chaos, Katyusha's T-34/85 was hit in the turret ring. The shell pierced through the tank's armor and sent shrapnel flying around the compartment as well as taking off the gunner's leg. The leg which is still inside the tank...somewhere.

_How could Kuromorimine do this?_

Nonna clenched her fists even tighter.

_I know they are competitive and that they want to eliminate the competition by any means necessary...but to go as far as willing to _permanently_ remove them is a whole new level of savagery._

There was a whine of an engine coming from an IS-1 entering the base. It was towing the knocked out KV-2. The IS-1 pulled the other heavy tank in for a couple more feet before its engine quit and started smoking.

"Well...we're back," the IS-1 commander said.

"What should we do with this?" the KV-2 commander asked.

"Repair it."

The crowd of girls looked behind them to see Nonna walking towards the tanks.

"Repair it," she repeated.

"It will take a while if we repair it-" the IS-1 commander began.

"Then take that while," Nonna interrupted. "It is Katyusha's favorite tank. Repair it and have it operational by sundown."

"But that's-"

Nonna ignored her and addressed everyone else.

"I am now in command. I want everyone on this base to get ready to move out in five minutes. Our mission is to flush those Kuromorimine girls out of those hills. Understood?"

"Yes, ma'am," everyone shouted in confirmation.

The crowd began to disperse and Nonna picked the four tank commanders that were directly in front of her.

"You four. You won't be using your T-34s. Come with me," Nonna ordered.

Pravda started to move out with Nonna in front with the IS-2, followed by a handful of T-34/85s, and plenty of T-34/76s. They weren't alone however.

Not far from Pravda's base, there was a tree that was watching them. There was black haired girl among the leaves, watching Pravda through binoculars. Carefully, she skillfully walked across the branch on all fours until she was on the other side of the tree trunk. She leapt off and rolled as landed on the ground with grace. She then ran towards three awaiting Hellcats. The girl's tank destroyer had the silhouette of a dark gray cat carrying a rose as its emblem. The next one had a white snowflake while the last one had a yin-yang.

"Pravda's leaving. Maybe we should tell Ruby," the black haired girl remarked.

"Or Kay," the blonde commander of the M18 with the yin-yang commented.

"We wouldn't have to tell anyone if we didn't decide to spy on Pravda," announced the icy haired commander of the snowflake Hellcat. "Within one mile of their base!"

"You're always so strict about rules," the blonde said. "We can't hurt anyone accidentally. The weapons are unloaded."

The other commander just made a sound of annoyance and disapproval.

"We are going to follow them," the raven haired girl said as she jumped into the turret of her Hellcat.

"Alright!" the blonde said as she planted her fist into the palm of her hand.

"Ugh. We should leave the stalking to the Night Witches," the albino commander groaned, referring to the Saunders platoon who excelled at stalking their prey and night battles.

* * *

It was still early in the morning. A lone Panther G belonging to Kuromorimine sat on top of a hill, using some foliage for concealment. Their job was to act as the early warning system for the rest of the armored forces in the hills. The gunner climbed out of the tank as quietly as she could so she wouldn't disturb anyone. After making her way to a small gathering of trees and bushes, the gunner pulled down her skirt and underwear, then knelt down.

After she finished her business, she pulled her bottom back up and walked back to the Panther. She had just climbed onto the engine deck of her tank and after she had straightened up, there, no more than fifty feet away, was the barrel of Pravda's IS-2. She blinked before reality caught up with her.

"What the-?!"

The IS-2 fired and destroyed the Panther. The gunner was blown off the tank. The IS-2 returned its gun to the forward position and left the white-flagged Panther to burn.

The rest of the Kuromorimine forces jumped out of their sleeping bags at the sound of the IS-2's gun going off.

"What was that?" someone asked.

"Misfire?"

They were soon given the answer when a horde of Kuromorimine's T-34/76s crested a hill in the distance.

"Get in your tanks!" Anzu shouted.

The silent hills broke out into a clamor of orders and engines coming to life.

"Go, go, go!"

"Get the engine started!"

"Load AP!"

The first T-34 came over the hill and started firing. Geshiko was running towards her tank. Her loader was farther ahead and tripped.

"Come on, let's go!" Geshiko said as she pulled her loader to her feet.

The T-34 fired and it bounced off the gun mantlet of the Panther. The Panther returned fire but missed. Geshiko and her loader finally made it to the tank.

"Get up there!" Geshiko pushed the loader onto the engine deck. The loader successfully made it up and crawled through the rear hatch in the turret. Geshiko was about to climb up herself when the T-34's bow machine gun came to life. The stream of tracers were headed right for her! She dove for cover behind the tank and proceeded to climb onto the back of the tank.

"What the hell do they think they're doing?!" was all she could say before flinching when her tank became the center of attention of all the enemy tanks within a line of sight. Not bothering to climb into the tank, she took cover behind the turret and shouted through the rear hatch.

"Back it up!"

The driver threw the stick into reverse and slammed her foot onto the pedal.

"How could they do something like this?" the radio operator whimpered. "We didn't report that we were combat ready."

"It's just like that little brat to put others in danger," Geshiko said as she closed the rear hatch behind her. She was referring to last season when Pravda tried to level a building with Ooarai still inside it.

* * *

Erika held her jacket over her head as she made her way towards the dorms. It was raining and most of the tanks were deserted as the crews went for cover. There was no telling when the rain would stop so the vice-captain decided that it would be a good time for a quick nap. She made her way to her room and just as she put her head on the pillow, there was a furious knocking on her door.

With an annoyed grunt, she swung open her door. The girl that had knocked on her door was already halfway down the hallway, knocking on all the other doors.

"Would you stop this immature act you first-year!" Erika shouted.

The doors of the other rooms opened as their occupants looked up and down the hall to figure out what is going on.

"Commander Nishizumi told me too," the girl said.

At that moment, Maho spoke over the intercom.

"We have an emergency situation. Pravda has begun their attack on the hills again, so everyone get to your vehicles immediately!"

The formerly empty hallway instantly became crowded as all the girls rushed to their respected vehicle. Erika joined the fray, but instead of heading to Tiger 131, she went to Maho in the briefing room first.

"What is our plan of attack?" Erika asked.

"Get in, then bug out," Maho said as she brushed past Erika and out into the rain.

"That's not a plan!" Erika said as she followed.

"It's what we're going to do."

"But we can't just rush in there! If we go in blind-"

"Shut up and listen!" Maho whipped around when they reached Tiger 212. "Why did we take the hills?"

"To give Pravda less breathing room," answered Erika.

"Correct. At this moment we don't have the numbers to keep defending every strategic spot. We are spread too goddamn thin. We will retreat, consolidate our forces, and set up an ambush elsewhere. Am I clear vice-captain?"

"Yes."

"Get to your tank," was all Maho said before climbing into the Tiger.

Erika did as she was told.

The rest of her crew were already in their positions. Saya held an ice pack to her head. She apparently still had a headache from the encounter with the KV-2. Eko, the radio operator, was tuning her radio to Maho's frequency. Chikari, the loader, slipped on a pair of gloves and grabbed a shell from the rack. The driver, Maya, toggled the ignition and made the engine rumble to life.

* * *

"Get ready," Maho said.

Ahead of the advancing Kuromorimine reinforcements were the hills. Even through the downpour, the tankers could see a fiery orange glow coming from the other side of the hill as well as individual columns of black smoke.

Maho went over the hill and immediately started firing. The two Tiger IIs and Panthers did the same. Erika looked out of the viewports of Tiger 131's cupola. The hill shrunk as the Tiger climbed and when she was able to look over the hill, all she saw was absolute chaos.

Muzzle flashes dominated the battlefield as glowing tracers flew all around. Tanks burst into flames and the familiar clink of the white flags popped up. Most of Kuromorimine were slowly backing up and only stopped to fire. Pravda swarmed over the opposite ridge in an endless stream. The more aggressive commanders on Maho's team ordered their drivers to charge in and meet the enemy. Erika was one such commander.

"Get in there!" she ordered Maya.

Maya shifted gears and planted her foot on the pedal. Saya already shot and Chikari was loading in another round. A T-34 was approaching rapidly. Saya turned the turret and knocked it out. She barely had to move the gun before acquiring another and taking it out as well.

Maho was having similar results. Just like Erika, she was at the front. Luckily, mud streaked the Tiger 1 and covered up most of the identification markings so she wouldn't be the center of attention of every Pravda tank.

"Commander, behind you!" Maho heard one of the Tiger II commanders yell over the radio. Maho looked behind her and saw a T-34 coming up on her rear. The Tiger II turned its turret and fired. The white flag popped up.

"Thank y-. Watch out!" Maho shouted to the Tiger II.

The Tiger II commander turned her attention in front of her. A T-34 was barreling down a slope right towards the Tiger II. The heavy tried to turn its turret to engage it, but before it could, the medium used the front sloped armor of the Tiger and lodged itself on the Tiger. The Tiger II could not move its turret with a twenty-six ton tank sitting against it.

"What the hell are they doing?!" Erika exclaimed as she witnessed more T-34s ram their opponents. Some succeeded in ramping off the sloped front armor while others did not. One Panther traversed just as the T-34 made it onto the front armor and flipped it over. The Panther fired a shell into the belly of the Pravda tank in anger.

"Fall back!" Maho ordered. "Fall back immediately!"

Maho's driver began to back up but a T-34 stopped right behind it and fired. A hole was put through the storage box on the back of the turret but it was not white-flagged yet. Another T-34 tried to ram the Tiger I head on but was taken out, its carcass rolling down the slope into Maho's tank.

Maya rammed the T-34 that was blocking Maho's retreat and pushed it into a crater that was made by the KV-2 earlier in an earlier battle. While Maya backed up, Saya shot the already stricken T-34. Erika reprimanded her for that.

"You're clear, commander!" Erika said.

The two Tiger Is turned around to retreat.

Anzu was at the very back of the pack with Kuromorimine's tank destroyers when she spotted something approaching in the distance.

"Is that…?" she asked herself. The student council president couldn't get a clear image of what was approaching. She opened her hatch and tried to look again through binoculars.

"It is! Nishizumi, this is Kadotani! There are seven T-34/85s and an IS-2 headed your way!" Anzu exclaimed.

"Maya, get us out of here now!" Erika ordered upon hearing the incoming foes.

"I'm trying! This mud isn't helping!"

A couple of Panthers put themselves between the incoming enemy and the Tigers. The Panthers halted in a line. They fired and took out two T-34s which left five mediums rushing towards them. Nonna hung back in the IS-2 and fired, taking out one of the Panthers. Four T-34s gunned their engines and rushed the Panthers. As the Panthers reloaded, they were met by a wall of fire.

The bow guns of the T-34s opened up with flame. The Panthers were engulfed by the flamethrowers much to the surprise and shock of Kuromorimine. The T-34s fired and disabled the opposing Panthers.

The remaining Tiger II fired at the IS-2 and crippled its drive shaft. Nonna turned the turret and destroyed the heavy. She looked just to catch sight of the retreating tanks cross over the hill.

Erika ordered Saya to turn the turret around and fire. The 88mm shell found its target which was the IS-2's turret ring. The commander of Tiger 131 looked on in dismay as she saw Pravda's forces rushing towards them.

"They're still coming for us!" Erika said.

"Launch smoke," Maho ordered.

All of Kuromorimine tanks that were equipped with smoke grenade launchers, or still had them, launched the canisters. A wall of white smoke covered Kuromorimine as they retreated into the storm.

* * *

Night has fallen and Tiger 131 hid in a clump of trees as its crew decided what to do. After the smokescreen, Erika and her crew were separated by the poor visibility during their retreat.

"Do you even know where we are?" Chikari asked.

Erika was looking at the map with a flashlight and out of the viewports. She could tell that there were trees, but not a densely wooded area. There were also small farm fields on the shallow hills. There was no distinguishable landmark however.

"Eko, radio for some assistance," Erika said.

The radio operator nodded and had just touched a dial when sharp bang impacted the front of the tank.

"Go, go, go!" Erika ordered.

Maya quickly started the engine. She drove downhill and deeper into the trees. As the tank moved there were two more shells that flew past them.

"What was it?" Saya asked.

Erika took a peek out of a viewport and saw something move quickly before vanishing behind the trees. The enemy vehicle was the size of a medium tank but was as fast as a light tank. That could mean only one thing.

"Hellcat. At least three of them," she said.

Her entire crew groaned at the thought of facing the tank destroyers. Erika thought about how they could possibly come out of this fight as the victor.

"Okay," she began. "Stay in the trees and at the bottom of this ditch. Chikari, load high-explosive."

There was a metallic 'thunk' of the breach, signifying a fresh shell was loaded.

Hellcats depended on their speed and maneuverability to survive. As long as Tiger 131 stayed in an area that negated the Hellcats' strengths, it was possible for them to win this fight.

The Tiger slowly crept along, weaving between the trees to minimize any sign of its presence.

"Stop," Erika whispered. Why she whispered was anyone's guess.

Looking through the viewports again, she looked around the tank. As she looked, the smallest bit of moonlight had shown through the trees and landed on a yellow lightning bolt. Erika tapped Saya on the shoulder and motioned that she wanted the turret to turn right. Saya slowly turned the turret and stopped as she saw the bolt. She pulled the trigger and it instantly went up in flames.

First Hellcat down.

Immediately, two glowing tracers sliced through the trees towards them. Maya reversed behind the stricken Hellcat. When one of the other tank destroyers fired again, it hit the wreck. Erika saw a flash further in the trees. It was followed by dirt kicking up next to the Tiger.

"Saya-!"

"I got 'im!"

The gun was already pointed in the Hellcat's general direction. Saya adjusted her aim and fired. A fireball quickly followed.

"Where's the last one?" Saya challenged.

Maya was still reversing when a tree fell behind them. The last Hellcat had circled behind them!

"Forward! Go forward!" Erika ordered.

Maya shifted gears and gunned the engine. The Hellcat fired only to have its shell slam into the ground. Shrapnel from the shell peppered the rear of the Tiger and damaged the exhaust covers. Saya turned the turret around and fired. The high-explosive shell shattered the trunk of a tree. The tree fell on the Hellcat.

"One more, Chi!" Saya told the loader.

Chikari punched another round into the breach and Saya fired again. The shell found its mark.

Third and final Hellcat destroyed.

The Tiger crew breathed a sigh of relief as they followed the ditch way from the battleground.

* * *

"Stop here," Erika ordered.

The weary Tiger creaked to a stop among a patch of bushes and shrubs.

"What's our fuel like?"

"It's almost empty," Maya responded.

"Eko, can you call for assistance?" Erika asked.

The quiet girl turned the dials on the radio. After a couple of attempts, she looked at Erika and shook her head. The radio was shot.

"Okay. Let's refuel and rest here for the night," Erika said as she began to climb out of the commander's hatch.

"Isn't it dangerous to sleep outside?" Saya asked. "We can't tell the marshals where we are."

"We won't be sleeping outside. We'll be in the tank," Erika declared.

"Wait. Are you serious?!" Maya exclaimed. "We spend all day inside a metal box and you expect us to sleep in it?"

Erika ignored her and was already out of the tank.

"You've got to be kidding me," Maya said.

"Be thankful you're not in a Panzer II," Saya said as she climbed out.

When they were all outside, Maya filled the fuel tank with the only three remaining gas cans they had. Erika and Chikari were going around gathering branches and brush. They weaved and tied the plants onto the Tiger to allow it to blend easier in its immediate surroundings. Saya and Eko were gathering blankets and brought them into the tank.

The moon was high in the sky by the time they were finished preparing for the night. They were all obviously uncomfortable and it would not take much to set one of them off. Erika was just contemplating about the situation they were in and a song came to mind. It was not one that she particularly liked but it just fit their position well. She softly started to hum the tune. Then the humming became words.

_Wir marschiert in Feindesland,_

_Und singt ein Teufelslied._

_Ein Schütze steht am Wolgastrand,_

_Und leise summt er mit._

The rest of her crew looked at their commander.

_Wir pfeifen auf Unten und Oben,_

_Und uns kann die ganze Welt_

_Verfluchen oder auch loben,_

_Grad wie es ihnen gefällt._

Maya and Chikari joined in. Saya sleepily blinked and Eko curled up in her blanket.

_Wo wir sind da geht's immer vorwärts,_

_Und der Teufel der lacht nur dazu!_

_Ha, ha, ha, ha, ha!_

_Wir kämpfen für Schwarzer Wald,_

_Wir kämpfen für Endsieg,_

_Unser Feinde kommt nie mehr zur Ruh'._

* * *

The sun was already above the horizon when Eko woke up. She yawned and tried to stretch but her hands hit the metal ceiling of the tank. Silently, she rubbed her hands in the brief moments of pain. Then her ears pricked. There was something moving outside. She leaned forward and looked through the hull machine gun's sights. Thrown into full alert, she turned around and tapped Maya on the shoulder.

"What?" the driver asked. "What is it Eko?"

Eko excitedly pointing towards the front of the tank. Maya looked out the driver's viewport. Once she saw what was out there, she pounded on Saya's boot. Still half asleep, Saya accidentally kicked the driver in the face.

"Wake up!" Maya shouted and shit hit the gunner's leg.

"What?!" Saya demanded. Her shout woke up Erika and Chikari.

"We got tanks!" Maya said.

"Friendlies?" Erika asked as she opened the commander's hatch.

"No. Shermans."

Erika poked her head out of the cupola. Sure enough, there were four Sherman tanks traveling left to right on the road that was about 800 yards away. The Tiger roared to life as plumes of smoke came out of the exhausts.

"Gun's loaded," Chikari reported, shaking in anticipation.

Erika looked at the Shermans through her binoculars.

"Target the last tank," Erika ordered.

The turret moved as Saya found her target.

"Fire!"

* * *

**A/N: And end on Day 4. I apologize if Katyusha is your favorite character. Frankly, I do not like her that much.**

**I did use _SS Marshiert in Feindesland_ with some lyrics changed.**

**"We marched into enemy territory" instead of "SS marches into enemy territory"**

**"We fight for Black Forest" instead of "We fight for Germany"**

**"We fight for victory" instead of "We fight for Hitler"**

**"Our enemies will never get to rest" instead of "The red one never gets to rest"**

**Anyway! I hope you enjoyed the chapter. Please comment. Have nice day and I hope to see you guys in the next chapter!**


	5. Chapter 5

**A/N: Chapter 5 has been split into two chapters.**

* * *

-5-

The morning sun fell on the square where the two opposing teams slept for the night. The square slowly filled as some of the tankers prepared their vehicles for travel. It was really evident that a storm had passed through during the night, coating everything in a droplets of water. The girls did not complain too much however. The square was mostly tiled with cobblestone so there were clean paths to walk on and everyone had slept in the buildings. While some others were out and about, some still slept in.

Kay's crew were still in their apartment room. By the time Sam had woken up, Kay was already gone, but Bailey, Maria, and Nora were still there. The gun operators got up shortly after Sam.

"Morning," Sam said.

"Good morning," Bailey replied.

Maria just yawned.

"So what's for breakfast?" Bailey asked.

"I was waiting for you guys to wake up and tell me," Sam said. "We've got crackers and jelly."

"Pass," Bailey said.

"MREs."

"Lame," Maria said.

"Or would you like me to cook something?"

"I thought you'd never ask!" Maria exclaimed.

Apparently this did not wake up Nora.

"But what is there to cook?" Bailey asked.

"Well, Tess's crew found a bunch of supplies in the restaurant's kitchen," Sam explained. "We could have waffles, bacon, eggs, hash browns…"

"That sounds good," Bailey commented.

"I'm up for that," said Maria.

"Okay. I'll go to the restaurant and you guys check the tank."

Sam pondered for a moment.

"Is there anything else you guys might want?"

*Snort* "Pancakes!"

The tree girls looked back at the bedroom. Nora was still in her sleeping bag but she was clearly awake.

"I would like pancakes!" declared the assistant driver.

There was a long moment of silence.

"Okay then. I'll add pancakes to the list," Sam said.

The driver walked out the door with Bailey and Maria right behind her.

"How did she hear us?" Bailey asked Maria.

"I don't know. I thought she was asleep."

Nora was left alone in silence. She got up and changed into her tankery uniform before heading out the door as well.

The square was pretty lively by the time Nora got there. Girls from both teams intermingled with one another and exchanged gossip or farewells before they go their separate ways. Others were prepping their vehicles. Nora looked around for Tess and found her standing by Erwin and Yukari.

The two Ooarai girls were leaning back in chairs. They had a round patio table in between them that had a plate of cheese and what seemed to be a wine bottle on it.

"Hey, man. How's it goin'?" Yukari asked Tess.

Tess did not answer Yukari's question as she had one of her own.

"What are you doing?" she asked.

"Oh, I'm drinking wine, eating cheese, and catching some rays, you know…" Yukari said.

"Don't you have to be 21 in order to drink this stuff?" Tess demanded.

"Oh, I only know the drinking age in my country. I don't know how yours works."

Tess could only sigh. Nora, who was next to her as the conversation played out, walked behind the Ooarai girls and picked up the bottle. She sniffed the mouth, then took a swig.

"Wha-. Nora!" Tess exclaimed.

Nora swallowed the liquid before answering.

"It's okay, Tess. It's only grape juice."

Tess scratched her head when Maria called from the restaurant.

"Hey, Nora! Breakfast is done!"

Nora ran off towards the rest of her crew, but not before taking a small slice of cheese from Yukari's plate.

Meanwhile, near the Sherman Jumbos, Esther was talking to her loader.

"You might want to see this," her loader said.

"Okay…?"

Esther was led to the right side of the Jumbo. The loader stopped near the rear. There, jutting out of the side of the tank, was a tank shell embedded in in the armor.

"What the?" Esther wondered.

"Yeah. I found it this morning when I was going to refuel," the loader explained.

Esther tried to pull the shell out. It wiggled around but nothing more. After a few more tries, she gave up.

"Any idea where it came from?" Esther asked.

"My guess is when we encountered the Panzer IIIs yesterday."

Across the courtyard, Kay had just informed Miho that she was letting Ooarai and Kuromorimine leave the town first. If they were to take advantage of her act of kindness, Kay will make sure that they will regret it. Ruby called to Kay and Saunders' captain gave a farewell to Miho and met the Hellcat commander under the overhang of a building.

"What's up?" Kay asked.

"I've got a call from one of my squad mates last night. Pravda has taken the hills at the northern end of the map," Ruby said.

"How many tanks are they down?" Kay asked, fully aware that Kuromorimine would have the range and armor advantage over the T-34.

"I don't know. They separated from Pravda after Black Forest retreated," Ruby said. "I don't think Pravda knew our Hellcats were in such close proximity."

"What does Pravda's leader have to say about all this?"

"I don't know," Ruby repeated. "She didn't say. But she did say that the Black Forest has lost all their Tigers, IIs and Is, except for Maho's Tiger I."

"Let's hope the information is accurate," Kay said, and then muttered under her breath. "It's just like Katyusha to not give the truth, even to her allies."

"Uh, Katyusha wasn't the one to contact us. It was Nonna."

"Eh?" Kay tilted her head to one side. "Why didn't little 'Miss Height Envy' tell us herself?"

"No idea," Ruby shrugged. "But I need to go over what our scouts have to report," she said as she walked over to the table with a map.

"One of our Locusts was shadowing a column of Black Forest tanks," Ruby explained. "They tracked them up until this crossroad."

Ruby circled the spot on the map.

"I suggest you take your squad and scout the area. The closest scout platoon is too far and I have to find my squad. I haven't heard from them since last night."

"What type of tanks did the Locust say Black Forest have?" Kay asked.

"I don't know," Ruby responded.

"Their numbers?"

"I don't know. I asked Alisa to try and contact them, but they haven't responded."

Meanwhile, the rest of Kay's crew had finished their breakfast and were on their way to prepare their tank to move out. Bailey was standing out of the commander's hatch while Nora and Maria stood on the back of the tank. The loader was teaching Nora how to fill up the gas tank.

"Something you should know is that the Easy Eight takes gas, not diesel," Maria informed.

Nora grabbed a green can and set it down on the engine deck.

"Is this gas?" she queried.

"Open it and find out," Maria said.

Nora was about to unscrew the cap when someone shrieked in panic.

"INCOMING!"

There was a distant whistling which rapidly grew into a scream as it fell right on top of the girls.

"Maria, jump! Jump!" Bailey shouted. The gunner ducked into the tank and slammed the hatch behind her.

Maria watched Bailey with a puzzled look on her face. She turned to Nora who shared her reaction. Any confusion they had quickly vanished as a geyser of dirt erupted in the square. More explosion followed as the loader and assistant driver jumped off and dove underneath the tank, covering their heads with their arms.

The girls in the courtyard scattered, taking cover in buildings as well as underneath or in a tank. Sam, who was on her way to the Easy Eight, quickly turned around and ran back towards the restaurant. She tripped and fell as pain suddenly gripped her ankle. She curled up in a ball as the hellfire continued.

The thunderous explosions persisted. There was a sudden heatwave that followed a fiery explosion as well as a sickening sound of metal twisting and ripping. Shattering glass was heard before everything fell silent.

The barrage has ceased. As the girls began to get their hearing back, the sounds of a crackling fire and girls crying in distress were the first things they heard.

Kay ran towards her tank yelling for her crewmates.

"Are you guys okay?! Bailey?!"

"I'm okay!" the gunner said as she cracked opened the hatch slightly to peek out.

"Maria?! Nora?!"

"We're g-!" Maria began. She stopped and looked at Nora.

"You okay?" Maria asked.

Nora nodded.

"Yeah! We're good!" Maria shouted to Kay.

"What about Sam? Is Sam okay?"

The three by the tank froze at the realization.

"Sam's not with us!" Maria said.

"What? Sam!" Kay shouted.

There was so much going on that it was difficult to pick out individual voices but Sam eventually was heard by her crew.

"Here!" their driver responded.

Kay ran through billowing gray smoke towards Sam's voice. She found the driver on the ground, still curled up into a ball.

"Sam! Are you okay? Can you stand?" Kay asked urgently.

"Yes. I think so," Sam said.

She took Kay's hand and was pulled to her feet. The moment she put weight on her right ankle she fell back onto the ground, holding her ankle and writhed in pain. The rest of her crew witnessed the event as they ran up.

"What's happened to her?" Nora asked.

"I don't know," Kay admitted.

"My-My ankle," Sam said, her voice riddled with pain. "I think I sprained it."

"There's no way she can drive in this state," Nora said.

"So are we left without a driver?" Bailey asked.

The gunner had a point. There was no one that could serve as their driver. Amy was in the hospital and they have not found a replacement that knew how to drive a tank.

Unless…

"Nora," Kay said.

"Yes?" Nora snapped to attention.

"Tess showed you how to drive, right? I mean, you have some practice?"

"Only by driving a couple feet and traversing," Nora said, not particularly fond of where this conversation was going.

"That's good enough. You're our driver for now."

"But…I am nowhere near as experienced as Sam!"

"That's okay. You only have to drive down the road for a couple of miles. After that Sam would probably be better and she can take over."

At the same time, Miho was making sure her crew, as well as anyone near her, were okay. Yukari was missing from her crew. She looked around and found the loader in the square, kneeling in front of a blazing fire. The loader's eyes were wide open and her mouth gaped in shock. In front of her, was the Anglerfish Team's Panzer IV…or what was left of it. The only thing that stood before her was burning shell of the tank that brought Ooarai victory last season.

Erwin stood by the StuG III with the rest of Hippo Team. The tank destroyer was in a better shape than the Panzer IV, but it was definitely out of the match. Its tracks were destroyed and the top of the tank above where the driver would be was replaced by a huge hole and twisted metal.

The destruction did not end there. During the barrage, the hotel where most of the girls slept for the night was also hit. Half of the building collapsed and there were people that were trapped. Alisa's Sherman was buried under the debris with only the rear and part of the turret exposed.

Tess ran up the pile of rubble and cleared some bricks. She opened the commander's hatch.

"Alisa! Are you alright?" Tess asked.

"Yeah, were good," Alisa coughed as dust fell into the compartment.

"Here." Tess held out her hand. "Let's get you guys out of there."

Kay had just arrived at the base of the pile as Naomi was making her way down it. Naomi passed Kay and grabbed a shovel off of the Firefly.

"Was there anyone in the building?" Kay asked.

"No, it's empty," Naomi said. "Now get a shovel and start digging."

Koume did a head count of the Kuromorimine-Ooarai team. Luckily, everyone was present and okay. Koume relayed a message from Maho which ordered all forces back to base. The three remaining tanks of their team started their engines.

Miho climbed onto Koume's Panther along with her crew and Hippo Team, the Panzer III. Just as the Panzer II began to move to take point, Miho looked back at Kay. Kay had just finished talking to Naomi and was in the process of turning when she met Miho's stare.

It was usually an easy task to discern what the Saunders tankery captain was thinking or what mood she was in. But now all she had on was a stone cold, unreadable expression.

The Panther jerked into motion. Kay broke eye contact when Nora handed her a shovel and started to digging.

* * *

Maho leaned over the sink in her private dorm. Her hands shook and she panted in anxiety and exhaustion. She looked into the mirror. The figure that stared back at her was not the strong and confident tankery captain everyone knew, but a little girl who was cold, tired, and defeated who only she knew who existed.

She closed her eyes as she thought back to what happened just minutes ago.

_Maho pushed down on an open leg wound of one of her subordinates with the entire weight of her body. She could see that her hands were not nearly big enough to stop the bleeding as the warm red liquid squeezed out from under her hand. _

_The girl she was plugging the wound for was shivering violently. She screamed as her team captain pressed down even harder in a vain attempt to stop the bleeding. The wounded girl waved her arms, trying to push Maho away._

"_Stop it, Keiko!" Maho ordered._

_She pushed Keiko back down with bloodied hand. In doing so, the smallest gap was opened and blood spurt onto Maho's face._

"_Oh, shit!"_

_She pushed back down onto the wound which got another cry from Keiko._

_Maho was trying to wipe the blood off of her face with her sleeve without moving her hands when a paramedic rushed over to her. The paramedic did not ask how bad the situation was as all he had to do was look and see what condition Maho was in._

_He maneuvered a bandage underneath Keiko's leg. When Maho moved her hands out of the way, another spurt of blood erupted before the medic secured it. Keiko barely moved as the bandaged was tightened._

_All Maho could do was stand up against Keiko's hole ridden tank in shock as the wounded girl was quickly carried toward a helicopter filled with wounded tankers._

Looking back into the mirror, she turned on the faucet and began to wipe her face with a wet towel. Her breathing increased as she wiped her neck, only to find that the red only smeared across her skin.

Frantically, she wiped at her neck but to no avail. Maho threw the blood soaked towel aside and then proceeded to rip her uniform off. Not caring if she broke any buttons or fabric, she stripped down completely and stumbled into the shower. She spun both of the hot and cold dials to their maximum and was greeted by a powerful stream of water. She rested her back against the wall and slid down until she hit the floor.

There she sat, soaking in the water as the floor of the stall around her ran red. As her shower continued, her breathing and heart rate slowed as the adrenaline slowly faded away.

There was a knocking on her room door.

Maho opened her eyes and looked in the direction of the sound. She really just wanted to be left alone now. The knocking continued.

"Who is it?" she asked.

"Koume Akaboshi," was the answer.

Maho did not answer so Koume spoke again.

"Is everything alright in there? May we come in?"

"Not decent," Maho said. "Meet me in the briefing room. I'll be there in ten minutes."

"Yes, ma'am."

Now in a fresh uniform, Maho walked to the briefing room. She was greeted by Koume who stood in front of the open door. The Panther commander gave Maho a rundown of what had happened in the town square.

"You are all okay?" Maho asked.

"Yes. Yes we are. The same can't be said about our vehicles though," Koume said.

"Miho?"

"She's inside."

Maho walked into the room and immediately saw Miho. The two sisters walked up to each other and held each other in a tight embrace.

"Thank goodness you're okay," Maho said.

"We are. But we do not have a tank to use," Miho said.

"Come with me," Maho said.

She walked out of the room with Miho on her heels. Koume joined them. The team captain walked straight for the hangar that held the ever decreasing number of tanks they have in possession.

"What other vehicles were destroyed again?" Maho asked Koume.

"Ooarai's StuG III."

"Get Matsumoto and show her to a Jagdpanzer IV/70. Tell her she'll be using one of those for the rest of this match."

"Yes, ma'am," Koume saluted and ran out of the hangar.

Maho made her way towards the small row of medium tanks, but briskly walked right passed them. Expecting to have been assigned to one of the Panthers, Miho was confused.

"Um, where are we going, Maho?" Miho asked.

"To the tank that you'll be assigned as a replacement for your Panzer," Maho responded.

"Yes, but isn't this where the heavy tanks were?" Miho queried as they passed a couple of Panther IIs.

"Yes," Maho said simply.

They walked all the way down until they stopped in front of a lone tarp covered vehicle.

"I want you to say hello to an old friend. I believe you met before," Maho said as she turned to face her little sister.

Miho timidly reached out for the tarp. She looked back at Maho for guidance. All Maho did was give a single confident nod. Miho grabbed the tarp and yanked it off of the vehicle.

Miho was greeted by an intimidating sight. Before her stood a Tiger 1H. It was spotless as if it was cared for more than any other tank in Kuromorimine's arsenal. What was the most familiar to Miho were the three digits painted in white on both sides of the turret.

It was her old tank; Tiger 217.

Miho was absolutely speechless. She stood still with her mouth agape in awe, confusion, and nervousness.

After a few moments of silence that lasted for eternity, Miho was finally able to grab her words.

"You kept it?" Miho asked.

"Yes," Maho said.

"Why would you when there is no one to command it?"

"I kept it in case of the slightest chance that you would return to Kuromorimine."

"What about mom? From what I understand from Kikuyo, she disowned me and intended to get rid of anything that was mine?"

"Yeah, trying to convince her was tough. I reasoned that we could at least use it for spare parts or as a backup or replacement in case something were to happen to mine."

"But…what would she say if she found out that I used it now? I mean, would she be okay with it?" Miho asked. Timid around their mother as always.

"Hey, it's your tank. Always has been, always will be."

* * *

"My squad! We're moving out!" Kay declared.

The Saunders girls that were in the town have finally cleared the pile of rubble. Besides Alisa's Sherman, there were two Locusts buried as well. Two tankers were also buried, but luckily they hid underneath one of the Locusts.

Nora had just settled herself into the driver's seat of the Easy Eight. She looked around uncomfortably. Even though Tess had already walked her through the controls, the assistant driver was still nervous. She turned to Sam for help. The driver helped Nora start the engine and get everything else in order.

"You got it. You're good to go," Sam said.

Nora gently pressed down on the gas pedal.

"Stop!" Sam screeched.

Nora looked in front of her and then slammed her foot down on the brake, bringing the tank to a sudden halt.

Alisa, who was in front of the tank, leapt back in alarm.

"What the fuck do you think are you doing?!" Alisa demanded.

"I'm-I'm sorry!" Nora said apologetically.

"Fucking watch where you are driving!" Alisa said, ignoring Nora's apology.

"Can it, Alisa!" Kay ordered. "You know better than to walk close to a running tank. Now get to your tank before I leave you behind."

After that mess was sorted out, the four Shermans lined up and headed down the main road out of the town. Ruby followed in her Hellcat, but immediately broke off in another direction once they cleared the buildings.

Kay's column traveled down the muddy road in silence. Nora looked through the periscope to watch the road. She adjusted slightly to avoid a burning abandoned Panther. They passed through the black smoke and was greeted by a battlefield covered with knocked-out T-34s, Panzer IIIs, Panthers, and a couple of Saunders' M24 Chaffees. There were no tankers in sight.

"Oh my…" Sam said as she moved her periscope back and forth, examining the battlefield.

"Have you seen anything like it?" Nora asked.

"No."

They passed a Panzer III that was upside down on the side of the road. The tracks were gone and the white flag suck out of its belly.

"It is rare to see this type of ferocity in a match," Sam said.

"What about the artillery in the town? Has something like that ever happened before?" Nora asked.

"Most likely. But those incidents would've most likely been accidents. What happened back there felt like it was intentional."

Nora said nothing and put her eyes back onto the road.

"To avoid any more life threatening situations, it's best to end this game quickly."

"There's still three days left," Nora said. "A lot can happen till then."

"Look," Sam said, adjusting her periscope. "Most of those tanks are Black Forest's. They have a lot of tanks, but they can't have enough to sustain them until Sunday. So don't worry. This game will be over…soon. But before it does, let's hope no one else gets hurt."

While the drivers had their conversation, Kay had just received a message from a marshal. She said nothing as her grip around the handset tightened.

* * *

Maho led Miho down the road. The two Tiger Is were accompanied by Koume in her Panther and Ooarai's Hippo Team in a Jagdpanzer IV/70.

Maho had suggested that Miho should take Tiger 217 out for a test drive so she and her crew could familiarize themselves with their new vehicle. Of course, it came as no surprise to anyone that when Yukari found out that they were assigned a Tiger I, she started spouting statistics, facts, and the history of the Tiger tank. Yukari knew more about this particular tank and its history with Miho, but she kept quiet about it.

When the Anglerfish Team was about to head out, Hippo Team decided to tag along for their own test drive. Koume was invited as an extra guard. They did not allow anyone else to accompany them to avoid drawing too much attention to themselves.

The group of four had reached a crossroad with a small two-story house not far off the road. There was a Locust outside of the house. The white flag was out and all the hatches were open. As they passed it, a message written in white paint could be seen on its side.

"You are now entering enemy territory. Good luck. Courtesy of Saunders GH."

There was a happy face at the end of the message.

"They never cease to be amusing," Maho said to herself.

The vehicles continued down the road a little further, just past a small group of trees.

On the other side of a hedge right next to the road, Maho spotted a column of smoke. She ordered for everyone to halt and put their heads on a swivel. Maho opened the hatch and looked towards the smoke with binoculars. There was a crashed plane in the field.

"Everyone, back up and head into the trees on our right," Maho said. "There's a plane there."

They backed up and headed into the trees. As they got closer, the plane was identified as a Focke-Wulf Fw-200 Condor.

"Think there's something in there?" Koume asked.

"We'd better check everything," Maho said.

"Then why didn't we check the house?" Miho pointed out.

"If there was anything in there, Saunders would have it by now."

An awkward period of silence later…

"So who wants to go check?" Maho asked.

"I volunteer!" Yukari said immediately.

Yukari exited Tiger 217 and made her way towards the edge of the trees.

"How are we going to cover her? Launch smoke?" Miho asked.

"No. That would give us away. All we can do is wait," Maho said.

Yukari walked as stealthily as she could through the barren field towards the aircraft.

"Looking for a black suitcase," she said.

She did not have to search around for her objective at all. It was right there, in front of the open door.

At an immediate glance, there was no serial number on the suitcase. Yukari moved the suitcase around to see if the code was put somewhere else.

Nothing.

"Well…that's odd," Yukari said as she headed back to her tank.

After the uneventful search, the girls drove back to their base.

They split off to do different activities once they returned.

Miho and Hana took the Tiger to the firing range so Hana could work on her accuracy with the new gun. Mako was asleep in the driver's seat when they arrived and Saori went and hung out with Rabbit Team. Yukari was in her room attempting to crack open the suitcase's combination lock.

Maho went to a game marshal to explain what had occurred. What she got as a response was interesting. There was no record of a suitcase being hidden inside an Fw-200 in that area.

Hippo Team was headed to their respected rooms when Shinobu Kawanishi of Duck Team waved down Saemonza.

"Can I ask a favor from you?" Shinobu asked.

The history buffs stopped and were in a brief moment of confusion. They never expected that one of the volleyball girls would approach them. On their own will anyway.

"Sure, what is it?" Saemonza asked.

"Sometimes when I see you, you carry a bow," Shinobu began. "Does that mean you know how to do archery?"

"Yes, I know archery."

"I was wondering if you could teach me."

Saemonza had _both_ of her eyes wide open in surprise. She blinked a couple times before speaking again.

"Sure, I can teach you."

"Catch you later?" Erwin asked Saemonza.

The gunner nodded.

Saemonza went and got her bow and arrows from her room and then led the driver of Duck Team to the weapons range. Of course the range was meant for test firing tank guns, howitzers, and machine guns, but it was the safest part of the base where they can make sure no one would accidentally get an arrow to the knee or any other part of their body.

Miho and Hana were finishing up with their practice when the archery duo arrived.

Meanwhile, Yukari had just finished cracking the combination locks on the suitcase. Inside were papers that were not written in Japanese or English. She went to Erwin's room and knocked on the door. The door opened to reveal a hatless Erwin.

"Ah, Guderian!" Erwin said, calling Yukari by her nickname. "What can I do for you?"

"I was wondering if you could translate this," Yukari asked. "It was what we found in the plane."

She handed Erwin the papers. The blonde flipped through the pages briefly.

"I'm still learning German, so I won't be able to translate it a hundred percent. I can get most of it though."

"I think that would be good enough."

"Why don't you come in?" Erwin offered. "I just made some coffee and I got a couple of books you may be interested in."

Yukari made a quick bow as she accepted the offer.

Elsewhere on base, Maho was in the radio room going through the roster. She was trying to find out where the rest of her team is. All of Ooarai's tanks and crewmembers were in the base, but she was still missing quite a few of her own team.

"What's it like out there?" Maho asked the Maus commander.

"It's been quiet ever since we got here," Mauko replied. "Do you want us to come back to base? We've been catching some very concerning radio messages."

"I think you should stay put," Maho said. "We need the trump card. Just be on high alert."

"Yes, ma'am," Mauko said before she hang up.

Maho checked in with Ritaiko and the Jagdtiger commander who were acting as sentries a couple miles outside of the base. The two tank destroyers were two miles apart with four Jagdpanzer IV/70s in between them. Both commanders said there was nothing particularly interesting going on.

Right as she put down the radio, Erwin burst into the room. She was panting heavily and Yukari was right behind her in a similar state.

"What's going on?" Maho demanded.

"You should read this!" Erwin said between breaths. She held out the original document and her handwritten translation.

Maho scanned through the translation. Her eyes grew wide at what she had just read.

"Call everyone back to base! Now!" she ordered the radio operators.

The radio room suddenly became a loud clamor of words and call signs flew back and forth across the radio waves. Maho listened for each call sign when there was one in particular that she noticed was missing.

"Wait…where is Erika?!"

* * *

**A/N: It seems to have become normal for me to include references. Most of them are obvious, but probably the least obvious one is the one with Shinobu and Saemonza. It could be just me, but I cannot see Shinobu without seeing Kaga from Kantai Collection.**


	6. Chapter 6

**A/N: There are some quick cuts between point of views, so I used ellipses (...) to separate it instead of the horizontal line. **

**Reader discretion is advised. There is a spike in profanity usage and violence in this chapter.**

* * *

-6-

The four Shermans rolled down the road. There were trees to their left and farm fields to their right. It was an uneventful ride so most of the crewmembers took the time to relax.

In the Easy Eight, Maria laid back in her seat with on leg resting on the gun breach. Bailey was reading a book she that had taken out of one of the supply bags a few miles back. Nora and Sam were talking amongst themselves.

"How's you ankle?" Nora asked.

"It still hurts a little," Sam said. "But I should be back in the driver seat in a couple of hours. Tomorrow at the latest."

"You don't have to burden yourself," Nora said. "I am able to take over your job for you if you need me to. I've improved in driving, so if you shall permit me, let me shoulder some of the encumbrance for you."

"That bothers me, Nora," Sam said.

Nora looked at Sam and found that the driver was giving her a look of distaste.

"The assistant driver before Amy was like you," Sam began. "She always had that 'I am smarter than anyone else here' look on her face, like the one you got on now. That may be true. You very well could be the smartest person in this tank, but tankery is a team sport and you can't win by yourself. You need teamwork and with teamwork, anything can happen. Ooarai last year is the perfect example. So don't show off and use above average diction. It doesn't help camaraderie."

There was silence as Sam's words marinated in Nora's brain.

"Sorry," Nora apologized.

"Forgiven."

"What happened to the other assistant driver?"

"Don't know," Sam admitted. "She disappeared two years ago. I guess she transferred schools."

Kay was leaning forward out of her hatch. Nothing went through her mind except for the message that she had gotten from the marshal.

_So in Maho's infinite wisdom, she wanted to give us a present, hm? A very _lethal_ present. Maybe I should show some generosity and give her something as well. Because wisdom is a circle; what you receive, you must give back._

She was so deep in thought that she did not notice something screaming towards them from their right hand side.

A tank shell slammed into the side of the Sherman Firefly and was followed by a thunderous explosion.

Kay instinctively ducked down into the tank. She wildly looked around and saw the Firefly burning brightly, its white flag on fire as well.

"Shit!" Kay exclaimed as she looked across the field. "Reverse! Hard left, hard left! Reverse!"

Nora shifted the tank into reverse and pulled on the left stick. The three remaining Shermans did the same. The radio traffic between the three tanks spiked.

"Hatches, hatches! Back up!" Tess told her crew. "Let's go! Let's go! Let's go!"

"Roger, left stick!" Alisa confirmed.

"Are you okay, Naomi?!" Kay asked.

"Yes, we're alright," the Firefly commander reported.

"What was it?" Maria asked.

Bailey put her book away and looked through her scope. She saw a smoking barrel pointed in their direction.

"That was an eighty-eight! It's a goddamn tank!" Kay informed.

"Where the fuck is it?" Alisa demanded.

A tank shell ricocheted in between Tess's and Kay's tanks, kicking up dirt and letting it rain down on the commanders.

"Tank! Twelve o'clock! 800 yards!" Tess said.

"I see it. It's a goddamn Tiger! Bailey, put some fucking smoke in her face!" Kay ordered.

"Let's go, Maria! Smoke up, Maria!" Bailey said.

Maria grabbed a white-phosphorous shell off the rack and put it in the breach.

"Smoke's up. Clear!" Maria said.

"On the way!"

Bailey stepped on the trigger and sent the shell towards the crouching Tiger. The shell impacted the ground and sent burning chaff in every direction, enveloping the Tiger in the smoke.

"We have to get to the crossroads. We gotta get past them," Alisa said.

"Come on, Kay! Let's get the fuck out of here! Let's go!" Tess begged.

"Unless she drowns herself in that shit-filled ditch, she's our problem," Kay countered. "Hit that son of a bitch!"

"Light the bastards up!" Alisa told her gunner.

At the same time, Maria had just thrown another smoke round into the breach.

"Clear!"

"On the way!"

The shell flew towards their enemy, creating a second smoke screen.

"Shoot that fucker! Fire when ready!" Tess ordered.

The gunner of the M4A2 shot and was quickly followed by the 76mm of Alisa's Sherman.

The tanks continued to reverse until Tess could hear wood splintering behind her.

"Stop, stop, stop, stop!" she yelled.

All three tanks halted as they reached the trees. If they continued on any further they would find themselves in a creek that they would not even be able to hope to get out of.

Everyone stared at the slowly dissipating smokescreen with intensity.

…

Meanwhile, the crew of Tiger 131 were going over some of their issues.

"Maya, get ready," Erika said.

Maya responded by revving the engine threateningly.

"That was our last armour-piercing," Chikari reported.

"Load high-explosive, anti-tank," Erika ordered.

…

The Shermans stood in petrifying silence as they stared at the white wall.

"All tanks, move forward!" Kay ordered.

"Shit!" Nora said under her breath.

She shifted gears and stepped on the gas. If what she heard about the Tiger tanks were true, this was going to be rough.

The Saunders tanks moved forward as fast as they could on the muddy ground. Kay gave out commands to her squad.

"Alisa, right flank."

"Right stick," Alisa told her driver.

"Tess, left with me. Stay abreast."

"Come on, let's go right at 'im! Let's go right at 'im!" Tess cried.

"Nora, left flank. Let's bum rush this cocksucker!" Kay declared.

The crew of the Easy Eight, except for Nora, briefly stopped what they were doing and shot a questioning glance at Kay. Kay had never used this type of language before. Sure, she had her bad days and would shoot out a couple of cuss words, but never this much at one time.

Engines roared as the Shermans raced across the field towards the awaiting Tiger.

…

"Maya, take us out of this smokescreen," Erika ordered.

The driver complied.

"Saya, new target. Target the tank on the left," Erika said.

The Tiger menacingly emerged from the smoke to face the oncoming tanks.

"Range, 700."

…

"She's coming out," Kay said as she witnessed the Tiger emerging from the smoke.

…

"Feuer Frei!" Erika ordered.

…

The Tiger fired its 88mm gun.

Nora witnessed the glowing shell whistle pass. She flinched as she followed the shell through her periscope.

"Jesus-!" she exclaimed.

"Loader AP, AP!" Kay said.

"Clear!"

"On the way!"

The 76mm shell hit the ground in front of the Tiger and bounced off into the distance.

"Pump him, pump him!" Tess said.

"Gyros on," Kay said.

Alisa's tank fired, followed by Tess's.

Nora stared wide-eyed in shock as she saw the shells bounce off the Tiger's front armor. She swallowed nervously.

"What do you want, top?" Maria asked.

"Loader, AP! AP! Smash him!" Kay responded.

"You're clear!"

"Hit it!" Kay shouted.

"On the way!" Bailey said.

She fired. The shell missed but this time it was closer to her target.

"AP, 500 yards," Alisa said. "Fire!"

…

The shell landed next to the Tiger.

"Adjust range! 600!" Erika said.

…

Tess made an exasperated sigh of annoyance as she wished she had a 76mm or 17-pounder gun.

"Again!" Kay ordered after seeing the results.

"Come on, Maria. Put it in now," said Bailey.

"Clear!"

"On the way!"

Bailey stepped on the button. This time she hit her target but it sparked harmlessly off the Tiger's front plate.

Soon after the bounce, the Tiger shot at Alisa. The round was headed straight for the commander's hatch!

"Get down!" Alisa's loader shouted as she abruptly pulled on her leg.

Alisa lost her footing and crashed onto the turret floor, just in time to avoid the 88mm shell. The Tiger's shell passed where Alisa would have been. The shell had ripped the hatch cover off as well.

"What the hell?" Tess said, witnessing what had happened.

"What? What is it?" Kay demanded before remembering that there was a Tiger ready to rip them to shreds with its deadly claws.

"Hit it!" Kay said.

"On the way!"

Another swing, another miss.

The gunnery duo kept on informing each other as they worked together to rapid fire the gun.

The Tiger fired at Alisa's Sherman again. This time it hit directly in the middle of the front armor. The Sherman sparked and became enveloped by black smoke as the white flag deployed.

"Alisa's down!" Tess shouted.

"Are you alright?!" Kay asked.

"Yes," Alisa coughed as she waved her hand to clear the smoke.

Nora stared at the Tiger as it continued its advance.

"It's a fucking beast," she said.

"No shit!" answered Sam.

"Nora flank left! Left!" Kay said.

Nora pulled on the right stick.

"Tess, cross her! Flank right, flank right!"

"Copy!" Tess responded. "Right stick!"

Her driver followed her orders.

"Traversing left," her gunner said.

"She's lining up on you!" Kay warned.

"Fire!" Tess ordered.

Her gunner fired and hit the Tiger's turret, but all it did was blow off the spare tracks stored there.

…

"Continue targeting that Sherman," Erika commanded.

Saya kept her aim true, ready for the killing shot.

…

"Hey, shoot this son of a bitch. She's lining up on Tess!" Kay said.

Bailey turned the elevation wheel as quickly as possible so she could lower the barrel onto the Tiger.

"Goddamn it, I said fire!"

…

"Feuer!" Erika said as if in response.

…

The 88mm shell went straight _through_ the Sherman's front armor.

"Holy shit!" Tess exclaimed as the shell ripped through the fighting compartment.

The shell continued on into the engine compartment. The engine caught fire and there was fuel leaking as well.

"Get out! Get out!" Tess exclaimed.

She, along with her gunner and loader, escape through the turret hatch as quickly as possible. The gunner's clothes were on fire and she stripped down to her undergarments to prevent herself from burning. The assistant driver panicked, desperately trying to get the driver out of the driver's hatch.

"Come on!" she shrieked.

The tank was rapidly filling up with fuel and fire.

With a final scream of adrenaline, she lifted the driver out of the tank. They both fell next to the tank where Tess and the loader dragged them hastily away from the burning Sherman. Not seconds later, the ammunition detonated, sending the turret flying off the tank. That didn't matter to its crew. What did matter was its driver.

"Emma. Emma, can you hear me?" Tess said.

No response.

"Oh my god!" Sam gasped.

Everyone stared in absolute shock at what they witnessed. Even Tiger 131 which had stopped in its tracks. Nora was petrified and had her foot still on the gas.

The fight could be over. The fight should be over. The fight _needs_ to be over.

But not for Kay.

"That's it you motherfuckers!" Kay screeched, her blood boiling and intoxicated by something that she felt had before:

Fury.

"Nora! Get us around their backside! If we get behind them we can kill them!"

"But-"

"'But' nothing! Just do it!" Kay dictated. "Go, go, go!"

Nora shifted gears and planted her foot onto the floor as she complied.

…

Erika was ripped away from the dreadful scene before them when she noticed that the last tank was fully intent on killing them.

"Maya, reverse! Reverse! Don't let them get behind us!"

Maya started to reverse as Eko fired bursts from her machine gun at the Sherman.

…

Kay ducked lower into the turret as the green tracers sparked all over the tank.

"Goddamn it!"

…

"Maya, halt. Now forward," Erika ordered.

"What are you doing?!" Saya exclaimed.

"Giving you a shot at their side."

The Tiger moved forward and Erika shrunk into the turret as the Sherman's bow gun started to open up.

"Fire!"

…

The round slammed into the side of the Sherman, causing the logs to explode into splinters.

"Goddamn it!" Kay exclaimed.

"Shit!" Sam said in a similar manner.

"What was that?!" Nora asked and looked back.

"We're hit! Watch where you're driving!" Sam ordered, pointing towards the driver's periscope.

"Ah, shit!" Maria said as smoke started to fill the compartment. "Bailey, are you alright?"

Bailey flinched as hot oil spilled out of the hydraulics.

"We lost power traverse! Switching to manual!" Bailey said as she flicked the switch.

"Come on, Bailey! You stay in this fight!"

"Bailey, hit it!" Kay ordered.

"On the way!"

She fired, hitting the Tiger's gun mantlet.

"Alright, she's coming around!" Kay said. "Nora, you better outrun that gun!"

"Got it!" Nora confirmed.

Sam was watching the Tiger through her periscope.

"Brake!" she shouted.

Nora planted her foot on the brake just as the Tiger fired. The shell scraped across the Sherman's front armor, shaking the entire tank and its occupants. She immediately sped back up.

Kay ordered a right stick and Nora obliged. They were now able to shoot at the back of the Tiger.

"Bailey, put it up her ass where the armor's thin!" Kay said.

"I know where to hit him!" the gunner said, quickly wishing she had a side shot instead.

"Bailey, you're clear!" Maria announced.

"On the way!"

She fired and the shot ricocheted off the side of the Tiger's turret.

"Goddamn it, I said in the ass!" Kay reprimanded.

"It's not as easy as it fucking looks!" Bailey shot back.

"Stay on it, Bailey!" Maria said.

Kay quickly came up with a new plan.

"Nora, when I say, you back up. Left stick," Kay said.

"Alright!" responded Nora.

"Stand by, Bailey. I'll call the shot."

"Roger, roger!" confirmed the gunner.

The Tiger's gun was quickly catching up to them.

"Nora, now! Reverse! Left stick!" Kay ordered.

"Ah!" Nora grunted as she shifted gears and pulled back on the left stick with both hands.

The Sherman reversed as fast as it could. The Tiger fired a shot and missed as the shell passed in between the turret and the boxes of supplies tied on the back of the Sherman.

"Baily, steady," Kay said. "Steady."

…

"Shoot the bastard!" Erika said.

…

"Come on, Bailey!" Nora said.

"Come on. Fucking shoot him!" shouted Sam.

"Steady!" Kay said.

There was a brief moment of silence.

"Now!" Kay ordered.

"On the way!"

Bailey shot and hit the right side of the rear armor. The shot was registered and a simulated engine fire ignited.

"Fuck! Maria, one more! One more, Maria!"

"Clear!" the loader said, after she punched in another shell.

"Again!" Kay ordered.

"On the way!"

Another shot fired. This time, the shell went _through_ the rear armor and actually destroyed the engine. The Tiger creaked to a halt and sat as it went up in flames.

"Tank destroyed," Bailey declared breathlessly.

The entire crew, sweating from adrenaline and exhaustion, took the time to breathe in.

Until…

"Bailey!" Maria exclaimed.

The gunner looked at her partner. The loader was looking at something. Something on her body. Bailey followed her gaze and looked down. The entire right side of her body was coated in dark liquid that smelled of iron. She put her hand at her side and saw it become red. Wordlessly, she collapsed onto the turret floor.

"Bailey!" Maria exclaimed as she made her way to her. "Oh, god! Come on! Stay awake! Stay awake!"

Her voice started to crack as she held the gunner in her arms and tried her best to cover the wound.

…

Erika stood in front of Tiger 131. Usually she would be angry for getting taken out, but she could not think about her situation.

Ahead of her was the burning wreck of a turretless Sherman and its crew who were huddled around their friend. Erika did not know, could not tell if that girl was still alive. She took a hazy step forward toward the Saunders girls.

"Erika!" Chikari screeched.

Erika whipped around.

"Aahhh!" Kay screamed like a possessed banshee as she brought a shovel down right for Erika's head.

* * *

**A/N: And I'll leave it on that note. Anyway, I hope you enjoyed these two chapters. Please leave a review. Stay smart, stay safe, and I'll catch you in the next chapter.**


	7. Chapter 7

-7-

Erika gawked at the horrific display before her. The Firefly sat in flames on the dirt road with the M4A1 (76)W a couple hundred yards closer. Tiger 131 was behind her as was the M4A3E8 which was still alive somehow. Usually at this point in time, Erika would be throwing a fit for being taken out of the match, but the thought of her current situation did not even cross her mind as she stared at the wreck of the turretless Sherman. Its crew was nearby, huddled around one of their crewmembers who laid unmoving in the mud.

The vice-captain took a hazy step towards the Saunders girls.

"Erika!" Chikari screeched.

Erika whipped around

"Aahhh!" Kay shrieked like a possessed banshee as she brought a shovel down directly at Erika's head.

Erika jumped to the side and landed on her belly. Looking back briefly, she scrambled out of the way as Kay attempted to strike her again. Erika managed to get back on her feet.

"Hey!" Erika shouted. "What are you trying to do?!"

Kay did not answer. Glaring at Erika, she straightened her back and walked towards the vice-commander, dragging the shovel through the mud.

Erika took a step back. As she did, Kay increased her pace and sprang towards her. Erika ducked and dodged as the spade came close to her neck.

"Stop!" Erika squeaked.

Kay did not listen. Blind with rage, she swung at Erika who then dodged another attack. They chased each other in a small circle with each girl doing their best to either kill or survive.

One attack left Erika facing the Tiger instead of Kay and when she looked behind her, the broadside of the spade slammed into the side of the Kuromorimine vice-captain's head. Erika was forcefully spun around and landed facedown. Weakly, she tried to get up. Grabbing onto the Tiger's tracks and any other leverage on the side of the tank she could, she hauled herself up.

Kay stood still for a couple heart beats. She raised the shovel and aimed the blade for Erika's skull. Wordlessly, she lunched forward, ready to deal the coup de grâce.

Or that is what she intended.

Before death could call upon another person, Kay dropped the shovel and fell onto the ground as if she got hit by a battering ram. Looking back at who shoved her, she saw Nora standing where she was.

"What the hell do you think you are doing?!" Nora demanded. "Why do you want to kill an innocent high school girl?!"

Kay got back to her feet.

"She is not innocent," Kay said darkly.

"What is that supposed to mean?"

Kay did not respond and only began to step forward. Nora followed Kay's gaze. Once she realized what her captain intended, she stepped in her path.

"Get out of my way," Kay said.

"Only if you don't pick up that shovel."

"Get. Out. Of. My. Way," Kay intonated dangerously.

"Then stop looking at the shovel," Nora said.

Kay snapped her demonic eyes onto her assistant driver. Feral instincts kicked in as Kay's lips started to curl, showing her canines, a growl forming in her throat.

"Last chance."

"I'm not going to stand here and watch you commit-"

Nora was interrupted when her nose was introduced to Kay's fist.

"Ah! What…" Nora panted.

She ran a finger under her nose only to find it red with her own blood. When she looked back up, Kay was walking past her.

"Oh no, you don't!" Nora grabbed Kay's arm.

Kay turned around and threw another punch. Nora recoiled and made a brief scream of pain. She continued to grip Kay's sleeve tightly. Kay twisted Nora's wrist and knocked her to the ground.

"Don't you fucking do it!" Nora shouted as she got up and gave Kay a sharp shove away, causing Kay to stumble pass the shovel.

"Stay out of my way," Kay said, returning the shove.

"Like hell I will!"

Nora pushed her again, but received another fist to her cheek. She retaliated, barely hitting Kay's jaw.

She swung again.

Kay put up her left arm to block the attack and shot her fist into Nora's sternum. Nora stumbled backwards, coughing. She fell onto her butt and grabbed her chest.

"Hmph," Kay scoffed scornfully.

The Saunders captain turned her back on Nora and once again made her way to the shovel. Nora wheezed as she looked towards Kay.

"We are not doing this dance anymore!" Nora shouted as she tackled Kay to the ground.

Kay landed face first into the mud and Nora straddled her back. She pinned one of her captain's arms behind her back and tried to restrain the other. Kay was flailing her free arm, trying to find a rock. But there was nothing to be found. Instead, she took a fistful of mud. Through brute force, Kay rolled over and slammed the glop of mud into Nora's temple. Nora released Kay's other arm as she tried to wipe the mud away from her eyes. She was knocked to the side and Kay stood up. Still partially blinded, Nora got to her feet as well and threw a right hook. Kay ducked beneath her strike and then punched Nora right beneath her ribs.

"Goh!" Nora exclaimed in pain.

She attempted to attack with a left jab, but Kay did not have to evade much as Nora's aim was off. Kay grabbed her arm and then spun her around, launching her into the side of the Tiger. Nora felt the heat from the fire against her back as she tried to stand up straight. Before she could get to her full height, Kay punched her twice in the stomach and once across the cheek.

"Kay! Stop this right now!" Alisa shouted.

Alisa put her hand on Kay's shoulder, but the Saunders captain was on a warpath. Kay took her attention off Nora and punched her number one radio operator squarely in the nose causing the second bloodied nose from Kay's fist that day.

Although weakened, Nora charged in attempt to spear Kay. Kay only budged a little. Looking at Nora, Kay twisted her body and hammered her elbow into Nora's back. After a few strikes, Kay wrapped her arm around Nora's neck and applied pressure. Nora panicked and did everything that she could to break free. She clawed at Kay's arms, but Kay was older and with a heavier build and stronger frame making any attempt to dislodge them from her neck a practice in futility. Nora tried elbowing and even kicking but with no effect as her lungs screamed for air.

Suddenly, the thunderous report of an M2 Browning tore the air apart.

Kay let go of Nora and covered her ears. An odd action from someone who spends many hours near firing tank guns.

"Stop this at once!" Naomi demanded from atop the Easy Eight.

Kay looked at Naomi. The sniper of Saunders could see that the murderous intent still burned in her friend's eyes. Naomi immediately racked the M2's charging handle to clear a jam and fired into the rear of Tiger 131 which was just inches away from Kay. Shrapnel flew as the bullets fragmented and Kay fell to the ground, covering her face. The gunfire stopped and Kay looked at Naomi who had lowered the barrel onto her.

"You will stop this at once!" Naomi repeated. "No one else needs to die!"

Kay's blue eyes became clear and bright once again. Apparently clueless, Kay looked around her. Nora lay in the mud like a corpse with only the faint moving of her torso indicating that she was still breathing. Alisa was not far off, pinching her nose with one hand and catching the falling blood with the other. The crew of the Tiger gathered around Erika and started wiping the blood off of her face. In the distance, Tess and her crew were huddled together.

"Naomi…" Maria said through her sobs.

Kay looked in the direction of her tank and saw Naomi help Maria carry the bloody and seemingly lifeless body of Bailey out of the turret.

Overwhelmed, Kay sat up against the Tiger. She began to sniffle. Then her body began to shudder. A soft wail came from her mouth as she began to cry.

* * *

The paramedics arrived on scene some time later. They were absolutely muted with shock at the carnage that had been stirred up within a couple of minutes. Emma and Bailey were immediately taken to a helicopter. Maria followed as she did not want to be separated from her partner.

Sam was also treated as she still felt immense pain in her ankle. Upon closer inspection, her ankle was inflamed and she could not put her weight on it. With a seemingly fractured and possibly broken ankle, she was soon evacuated to the hospital as well.

Erika sat in a helicopter with a blanket over her shoulders. Besides the small winces of pain, she did not protest as her cuts were bandaged. Kay and Nora sat with their backs facing each other in another helicopter. Nora also had a blanket around her and moved an ice pack underneath her clothing for the massive bruises. Kay held up her right hand as it was being bandaged. She briefly looked at Nora with regret and sorrow written all over her face.

Alisa's nosebleed had stopped and she wiped the blood off of her skin. Her clothes still wore the dark red stains.

Naomi was talking to an official on what she saw happen. Nothing seemed out of the ordinary until Tess's M4A2 blew its turret sky high. The Tiger I and Easy Eight continued to fight until the Tiger was disabled, but its flag was not raised. Closer inspection revealed a hole in the Tiger's rear armor and a deformation in the Easy Eight's side armor where the 88mm HEAT round was weakened by the logs, but not stopped. The official thanked Naomi for the report, unaware that she left out Kay's rampage.

The medic had just finished bandaging Kay's hand when Naomi approached her.

"What happened to you?" Naomi asked.

Kay just looked down, her back hunched.

Naomi tilted her head.

"Cameron's dead," Kay replied tiredly.

Naomi said nothing as she put a hand on her face and let out a loud sigh.

"I got the call today," Kay continued. "While we were riding down the road. Causes of death were major damage to vital organs and third degree burns."

"Who's Cameron?" Nora asked.

Naomi wiped tears from her eyes before answering.

"She's the commander of the Sherman we found in the orchard." Naomi shook her head briefly. "How could this happen?!"

"Maybe she knows something," Kay said as she looked towards Erika.

The Kuromorimine vice-captain was just about patched up. She had a bandages covering her left temple and upper cheek. The rest of the cheek was heavily bruised. Erika winced when the medic bandaged the wounds on the left side of her neck. She looked towards the sound of approaching footsteps.

Erika's heart started racing when she saw Kay, but the Saunders captain was behind Naomi, who was tense in case Kay tried to do anything. Nora still wore the blanket and was a little farther behind.

"Do you know why I attacked you?" Kay asked.

Erika slowly shook her head without taking her eyes off Kay.

"Is that not a clue?" Kay pointed towards the tanks which haven't moved from their spots.

Erika shook her head again.

"You saw the helicopter-" Kay began.

"She didn't actually," Maya interrupted as she approached. "Because you knocked her out with that shovel."

Kay turned her attention back to Erika.

"First Cameron. Now Emma and Bailey. Does _Nishizumi_ want to eliminate her competition so badly that she is willing to kill them?"

"What? Kill?!" Maya exclaimed.

"Kill? What are you on about?" Erika demanded in a raspy voice.

Kay frowned.

"Today, Thursday at 12:03 PM. Cameron, the commander of the 'Fighting Girl' was declared dead. Yesterday, we found her tank burnt and riddled with holes in the apple orchard at C-35, but she was taken to the hospital on Monday. Today, right after breakfast, there was an artillery strike on the town at D-26 where _we_ had camped out for the night. Two vehicles were destroyed and many were buried in the rubble."

Erika stared wide-eyed in horror as Kay continued.

"Today, when we fought _you_, Tess's tank got hit which put Emma in critical condition. Then you shot at us which made me lose my gunner and loader. So what do you have to say for this despicable act? Why do you want to turn tankery into warfare?"

There were several eternal moments of silence before anyone said anything.

"I-I-I... I don't know anything," Erika finally admitted.

"What?!" Kay bellowed as she raised her fist.

"Hey, hey, hey!" Maya cried out as she jumped in front of her commander.

"Whoa, whoa! Hey!" Naomi grabbed Kay's jacket. "Stop it!"

"It's true we don't know anything!" Maya said. "We were out since yesterday and our radio broke when we got attacked by _your_ Hellcats! If you don't believe me, try the damn radio for yourself!"

"Also, if you're angry at Maho, why don't you go take it up with her?" Naomi added forcefully.

"Then I will," Kay said before addressing Erika. "When you get back to base, tell your captain to meet me at the crossroads at grid AM-44. And that I will make her regret it if she tries anymore shit."

Kay did an about-face and started walking towards her tank before anyone could raise objections. Naomi looked at Kay, then to Erika, and back to Kay before scrambling after her. Nora put her medical blanket on the helicopter before following the sniper.

"Tess! Alisa!" Kay called.

The two commanders looked in Kay's direction.

"Get over here."

Kay leaned against the Easy Eight as she waited for the others.

"So what exactly is your plan?" Naomi asked as she approached. "Going into Black Forest territory, _alone_, and talk to Maho?"

"Yep," Kay answered simply.

"And that's if..._if_ she doesn't decide to ambush us and probably kill us," Naomi said.

"That's why I want you to come along. So you could snipe that pretty little head out of the cupola."

"Snipe who's head out of a cupola?" Alisa asked as she got within earshot.

"Kay wants me to kill Maho!" Naomi exclaimed.

"What?!"

"That's only if..." Kay clarified. "_If_ she tries any funny business. And you won't have to if Black Forest is as clueless as Itsumi says."

"What's up?" Tess asked as she walked up.

"I'm going to meet with Maho," Kay said, and continued before she could get interrupted. "I plan on meeting her at the crossroads at AM-44 so I can find out why our girls are getting shot up. If everything goes thumbs-up, we might be able to end this match without any further casualties. If not...then may God help us. Naomi, Alisa, Nora: you are coming with me."

"What about me?" Tess asked.

"You are in charge until I get back to base," Kay said as she climbed onto the tank. "When you get back to base, get everyone to RTB no matter where they are or what they're doing. Don't leave until you get a call from me."

"We'll lose ground if we abandon the field," Tess pointed out.

"I don't care if we lose. I'm putting our girls' lives first. Keep your phone on."

Kay hopped down into the commander's hatch. She looked down at where Tess stood and found that Alisa, Naomi, and Nora have not moved.

"Girls?" Kay said.

"It's too dangerous, Kay," Naomi said. "We already do not know what is going on with whatever is happening here. And you want to go into the _heart_ of Black Forest territory, straight into the teeth of the _Nishizumi heir_? And you want me to take a pot shot at her?"

Naomi shook her head.

"No. Uh-uh. Sorry, but you're on your own with that idea."

"Then I'll go alone," Kay said as she began to climb out of the turret and to the driver's hatch.

"Shit," Naomi muttered and started to climb onto the tank.

"Wait, Naomi! You just said you weren't going!" Alisa exclaimed.

"I know, I know! I'm just making sure Kay doesn't do anything stupid. Like _kill Maho_," Naomi said with venom as she looked at her team leader who was climbing back into the turret.

Alisa sighed approached the tank and prepared herself for the short climb.

"Looks like I'm going," Nora said. "They need a driver after all. Tess?"

"Yeah?"

"If you don't hear from us in the morning, raise the white flag, shoot a flare, do whatever you have to do to declare that Saunders have forfeit. Save as many lives as you can. Promise?"

"A grim promise, but yeah. I promise," Tess answered.

The two tankers briefly shared a hug.

"My phone will be on," Nora said as she climbed into the driver's hatch.

Tess answered with a nod.

Nora hopped into the driver's hatch and started the engine. As the unnamed Easy Eight drove away, Tess silently hoped that this was not the last time that she would see them alive.

* * *

None of the girls talked to each other as they traveled down the road. Tensions were high as they nervously turned their viewports and flicked their eyes back and forth praying that they would not run into any enemy tanks.

Grey clouds rolled in slowly from a horizon as the sun approached the opposite horizon indicating that it was late in the afternoon. Kay was nodding off when a loud explosion jolted her awake.

"Contact!" she exclaimed. "Do you see them?"

"Nope," answered Alisa.

"Negative," said Naomi.

"Nothing down the road," replied Nora.

Kay cracked open her hatch just enough so she can see out of it. Beyond the grove of trees to the left of the tank, she saw multiple muzzle flashes. Alisa handed Kay the binoculars after she asked for them. Looking back into the trees, she saw gun barrels aiming for the sky, but she could not see the vehicle they were attached to.

"Nora. Hard left 90-degrees," Kay ordered.

Nora complied and pulled on the left stick. The Sherman slowly ran off the road and into the trees. Nora weaved in between the trees and crushed the heavy undergrowth. The unidentified guns continued firing and after clearing a few more yards, the Saunders girls stopped and gaped in surprise and puzzlement.

In a field in front of them were five guns firing pointed upwards and firing their rounds into the sky. Self-propelled artillery was not illegal for use in tankery and several schools possessed such vehicles. But they were rarely ever fielded.

However, what was in front of the girls were not vehicles at all; they were traditional artillery guns.

"What?" was all Kay said before another volley shook the air.

Nora took out her phone and started filming. The artillery were unmanned, but upon closer inspection, they were modified with some sort of auto-loading mechanism.

"They look German," Naomi observed.

"What caliber?" Alisa asked.

"150mm by the sound of it."

"Could that be what hit us in the town?" Nora asked.

"Possibly," answered Naomi.

"There's no way the Federation would allow that to happen," Alisa said. "They must be blanks."

They flinched as the large caliber guns let off another volley.

"Okay, those are definitely not blanks!" Kay said. "Naomi, take them out. Nora, get us to that other tree line."

The two girls confirmed their orders and went to work. Nora began slowly crossing the field as to not disrupt Naomi's aim. The sniper aimed for the auto-loading mechanism and fired. One by one, the guns fell silent.

Nora followed the tree line which boxed the field. On the way back to the road, Kay noticed something in the neighboring field.

"What d'you see?" Alisa asked.

"A plane," Kay answered.

"An FW-200," Naomi said.

"Reckon there'd be something in there?" Alisa queried.

"Maybe. I'll go check," Kay said.

She lifted herself out of the turret and urgently walked towards the wreck. When she reached the door and looked inside, the sight of the interior stole her breath. And not in a good way.

The interior was in ruin from the crash, but on top of that, there was blood and bullet holes seemingly everywhere. Also...

...guns.

Several rifles, pistols, and ammunition lay scattered towards the front of the aircraft.

Ignoring the weapons, Kay scoured every inch of the passenger compartment. She looked under the seats, tables, and in the overhead bins but came up empty.

She looked towards the cockpit door which was closed. Carefully, she reached for the handle and opened it. What Kay saw made her empty her stomach. Sitting in the pilot seat was a corpse leaning over the yoke with a hole in the back of its head. After Kay had finished retching, she looked back at body.

There was a pistol inside the leg holster. Kay reached for it slowly. When her fingers wrapped around the grip, she yanked it out and quickly took a couple steps back.

The body had not moved.

With a small sigh of relief, she looked at the handgun that was in her hand and before she knew it, she grabbed an empty leather bag she had found and started stuffing it with all the guns and ammunition she could find.

...

The inside of the tank was silent, nearly suffocating, when Kay got back. She knocked on the hatch and Naomi opened it up.

"Nora, get back to the road and continue to the crossroads," Kay ordered.

The driver confirmed and began to navigate through the trees. Kay stayed on the back of the Sherman.

"Can I talk to you, Naomi?" Kay asked.

"Sure," Naomi answered as she stood up through the commander's hatch. The tank rocked as it got back onto the dirt road.

"Did you find a clue?" the sniper asked.

"Not really," Kay asked. "What do you make of all this?"

"Shells punching through tanks, prop artillery guns using live rounds instead of blanks, how we were attacked in the town, and the _real_ casualties," Naomi listed. "If I did not know better, I say someone's trying to kill us."

"I feel that way too."

The tank was approaching the crossroad.

"Something fishy is going on here," Kay continued. "And that plane, it had a dead body in the pilot's seat."

"Your joking," Naomi said in disbelief.

"I'm not. And these were in it too."

Kay opened the bag and showed its contents to Naomi.

"What-"

Naomi was interrupted when an explosion shook the tank. Kay fell down onto the engine deck and Naomi ducked back inside the turret. The tank halted as the right track broke apart.

"Contact!" Alisa shouted.

"No! No! Not another Tiger!" Nora wailed.

"That wasn't an 88," Naomi said.

Kay got up and used the turret as cover. She spotted their contact.

"Panther! Rotate right 10-degrees. On the ridgeline on the other side of the field," Kay communicated.

Naomi anxiously spun the dial to get the gun pointed at the target.

"Clear!" Alisa informed.

Without time to lose, Naomi stepped on the trigger and sent a 76mm shell towards the target. The round ricocheted off the Panther's front armor and into the barrel. The Kuromorimine tank fired. The midsection of the barrel swelled and blew itself open as the shell hit the obstruction caused by the Saunders shell. Combat ineffective, the Panther pulled back and vanished before Naomi could take another shot at it.

The crew breathed a sigh of relief.

Kay jumped down and inspected their track.

"Well, we ain't going anywhere," Kay said.

"How bad is it?" Naomi asked as she hopped down.

"A couple sections are destroyed. Busted bogie too." Kay looked up at Naomi. "Can you fix it?"

"Yeah, but I'll need some help."

"Okay. Alisa-"

"What the hell is this?!" Alisa exclaimed, interrupting her captain.

She held up the leather bag.

"Guns it would seem," Nora said, her eyes brightening.

Kay wiped her face.

"I'll explain later," she said. "But right now, Alisa, you help Naomi with the track while me and Nora check that house. Nora, grab a gun before you go."

Alisa made an annoyed sound and hopped off the tank. Kay climbed up and started rummaging through the bag.

"Can I get the Type 89?" Nora asked, her eyes gleaming.

"Uh, sure," Kay answered.

The driver picked up a rifle that had a folding stock and Japanese Kanji on the side. After checking to make sure it was loaded, she hopped off the tank and headed towards the house with a visible skip in her step. Kay raised an eyebrow and followed with a pistol in hand.

"Now that's concerning," Naomi said to no one in particular.

The house was fifty or so meters off the road to the left of where the Sherman got tracked. In front of the house was a Saunders Locus that was taken out.

"Wouldn't the Locus girls have found a case already if there is one in the house?" Nora asked.

"Maybe," Kay said. "But we won't be going anywhere until the track is fixed. May as well do something."

The two entered the house and searched the rooms as thoroughly as possible without ransacking the place. Nora was clearing the rooms like an operator while Kay just walked casually through the house. They soon searched upstairs and ended up in a bedroom.

"Kay, why did you require me to get a gun before searching the house?" Nora asked.

Kay sighed and sat down on the bed.

"Why do you ask?"

"You just don't seem yourself...from what I heard about you anyway," Nora concerned. "Are you diagnosed with bipolar depression?"

Kay snapped her head to her driver. She got up and grabbed Nora's collar.

"How dare you assume I have a mental sickness?!" Kay roared.

Nora gulped.

"Sorry," Kay said quietly as she sat back down. "Nora, I'm sorry. It's just with all that's been going on. The artillery, Cameron's death, these goddamn guns in that plane...it just doesn't feel like tankery. When I talked to Naomi, she thinks someone is trying to kill us."

Kay sniffed.

"It's just...I'm scared, you know. I'm scared about what will happen next."

"Hopefully we can get some answers when we talk to Maho. And maybe we can negotiate a cease fire and end this match early," Nora comforted.

"I sure hope so."

There was a sudden thump that came from the closet. The two girls looked at the closet then at each other.

"There shouldn't be anyone here but us, right?" Nora asked.

"Right."

Nora raised her rifle and flicked the safety off. Kay crept towards the closet and put on hand on the handle while the other held the pistol. Kay mouthed a count to three and then swung open the door.

The girls tensed when the door opened to reveal what was inside.

"Don't kill me! Don't kill me!" a woman said frantically before gasping in pain from a broken leg.

Nora stayed tense as there was a handgun in the closet as well, but Kay lowered her weapon and stared wide-eyed in surprise.

"You're...!"

* * *

**A/N: And the unrelenting cliffhangers continue!**

**I would have updated earlier, but I've just been very busy lately.**

**Feel free to leave a comment or review and tell me what you think. Other than that guys and gals, take care and I'll catch you in the next chapter.**


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